The Lost Chronicles: Of Moon and Star Alike
by Santania'sGirl
Summary: Morrowind falls into chaos after the Nerevarine is accused of murder by the Tribunal and forfeits his powers to Azura. Dagoth Ur and the Heart of Lorkhan return. After three hundred of years of no hope, two unlikely heroes rise to bestow the land of the Dunmer to its former glory.
1. Prologue, Part 1

I want to say that the timeline is screwed up in this story by several years - three hundred to be exact. Why is this?

I began writing this story just before Skyrim came out - a few months ahead. I figured I could flexiblly add a few hundred years in between the era of when the Nerevarine took place and when the Oblivion crisis occurred. Then, Skyrim came out and ruined it. It set in stone that as soon as the Oblivion crisis was ended, a new era was born, and so I could not expand my timeline. So, if this does bother you, leave.

Disclaimer: I do not own Elder Scrolls. Todd Howard and Bethesda do.

* * *

><p>I buttoned up the top of my vanilla and silver-encrusted blouse, watching with knitted eyebrows and focused eyes my fingers weave the black button through each hole until the last two. I always liked leaving just enough cleavage for my chest to breathe and exhibit the little wolf-shaped ring I wore on a chain around my neck. I twirled around and let the matching skirt furl around me, swaying to its own rhythm before eventually stopping. With bright emerald eyes, I glanced over my shoulder at Rei and smiled.<p>

"How do I look?"

The old white she-wolf wagged her bushy tail and perked her ears. Pawing the burgundy carpet, a high bark escaped her slender muzzle, and I knew my companion was satisfied with my attire. As if my personal dresser, Rei gave her opinion openly. Gaining her approval was not easy. Happy, I busied myself over to my dresser and grabbed the blue, tear shaped soul gem along with the white, crescent-moon shaped one and ran them through the left side of my brown hair.

While doing this, I addressed Rei in an authoritative tone. "Today is the day, Rei. The Nerevarine's called us to a meeting to decide on the abolishment of slavery." I slid my fingers through my hair to smooth where strands had ruffled up. Glancing at my reflection one last time, I said with a sigh, "Wish me luck."

There was a knock at my door, and I allowed entrance. In walked Aryon with my Mouth and loyal steward, Eddie – Fast Eddie, as many referred to him.

"Ah, and here is House Telvanni's pride and joy!" Aryon called, addressing Rei with wide arms. Excitedly, she yelped and twirled in a few circles before meeting his welcoming arms.

Fast Eddie glanced cautiously at Rei before approaching me to proceed with whatever business that needed tending to. "Madam, your schedule is rather filled. Before you leave, there are a few things on the agenda." I was walking now to my desk, going through my jewelry.

"First, Mistress Thenora is asking for a loan to extend her egg collection."

"Eddie, I've already told you to ignore any request from her. Thenora lost her head a long, long time ago."

"Yes, Divayth has requested to meet with you to discuss the Corpesarium expansion. It seems he's running out of room."

"Is he requesting an expansion immediately or just a discussion for future planning?"

"Umm, there are no specifications for. I…"

"Fit him in," I instructed. "We need to catch up. Tell you what, cancel everything for tomorrow and send Divayth a message that I'll go there in the morning."

"But, tomorrow, you're scheduled for Sadrith…"

I snapped with a hint of teasing in my voice, "Oh, Eddie, quit behaving like such a Redoran! Those Telvanni will rather enjoy having such a delay! Besides, I never quite cared for Sadrith Mora anyhow." I paused at the door. "Anything else?"

"Just a letter from God-King Al-"

"Trash it," I ordered, and with that, I left.

* * *

><p>I sat in front of the Redoran Archmaster, glowering over at the Dunmer trash. Redoran is one of the worst Great Houses. I always thought so, anyway. They're stuck up and think they are better than any other Great House.<p>

Allow me to elaborate on the five Great Houses of Morrowind. At the moment, only three hold power on Vvardenfell – House Telvanni, House Hlaalu, and House Redoran. The other two, House Indoril and House Dres, fell out of power several centuries ago before I became Archmagister. House Dres is run by a Dunmer man named Ibaar, and House Indoril, dedicated to the lovely God-King Almalexia, lacks sufficient leadership. They're run by an Ordinator named Savel Riin – you can call him "Idiot."

House Hlaalu is the "kiss ass" house, so to speak. They're loyal to the great Emperor and believe in pleasing everyone. They want to completely do away with all Dunmer ways and let those Imperial n'wahs (please pardon my language) come over here with their foreign ways and put down their foreign laws. I may be a Breton, but I was raised in Morrowind, surrounded by proud, noble Dunmer who believed like I believe. It's completely outrageous!

However, as much as I despise House Hlaalu and the Empire, I hate House Redoran. Arrogant, inbred, moronic Dunmer trash is all they are. House Redoran is the opposite of House Hlaalu; they want to keep the ways of the Dunmer Temple, slavery, persecution of the necromancers without fair trial, and persecution of the great savior of the Nerevarine. They hate House Telvanni because we dare question the Tribunal and their God-Kings. Blinded by pride and arrogance, they kick out anyone who messes up because you must be perfect to be a Redoran. And their leader is just as terrible as well. He fits their type perfectly. Ruthless, proud, arrogant, ignorant, he has all the attributes of a Redoran. He's so villainous that there is no telling how many of his own people he's slaughtered.

And then, there is the house that I preside over – House Telvanni. Many people dislike Telvanni because it houses peculiar wizards and rumored necromancers. They fear us because of nasty rumors, but none are even close to truth. Unlike House Redoran, we don't think inside this bubble the Tribunal Temple offers. We dare to question, explore, and discover. We despise the Temple because it desires to suppress knowledge and truth. Though eccentric in this department, we despise the Empire. Unlike House Hlaalu, we want to keep some of the more important Dunmer ways, like keeping the power in the Great Houses and not some foreign Imperial about to keel over with old age. In my opinion, House Telvanni is the greatest of the five.

House Redoran despises us because of our eccentricity and boldness; we despise House Redoran because of their belief in suppressing knowledge. The Archmaster hates me because I betrayed the Temple and became a Telvanni and Dissident Priest; I hate him because he's a liar and an idiot. He thinks women shouldn't lead; I think idiots should be decapitated. Need I say more?

But, here we were, glowering one another down while sitting at the large table across from each other, waiting for the Nerevarine's arrival. If we were alone, he would be dead. That is how deep I despise him. He's a traitor to his House, a liar to his people, and a pimple on the ass of society. Killing would do everyone some good.

The Nerevarine entered, and we rose from our seats. He came to the massive, throne-like chair beside be and sat down. We followed his lead.

"I have gathered you each here because of a document I recently received. The residents of Vvardenfell have passed around a petition and compiled over one hundred thousand signatures for the abolishment of slavery. I open the table for discussion."

And the village idiot in front of me pushed himself up to speak.

"This is an outrage!" he babbled mindlessly like a cliff racer with its head chopped off. "It's an insult to us Dunmeri that you're even discussing this!" He pushed his navy blue finger onto the table. "Our treaty that the Tiber Septim signed guaranteed us the right to slavery!"

"Because at the time," interrupted Grandmaster Vedam Dren of House Hlaalu, pushing himself up, "the people desired and needed slaves. Times have changed since the treaty. Our people have changed with the times.

"This is true," added Riin, also climbing to his feet. "But if we allow this to be taken away, other rights will follow."

"Exactly," the moron bellowed, turning his gaze to the Nerevarine.

"But slaves are people," Vedam argued. "Do they not deserve a right to freedom?"

"I must agree," Ibaar voiced. "I was never one to own a slave. My family and I offered pay to the poor willing to work and harvest the crops we had in our fields."

"You pay those filthy creatures!" the Archmaster gasped. "Look, as long as those beasts are slaves, crime is down. We all know those Khajiit steal! And not to mention the moon sugar!"

"If I'm not mistaken, Ashlanders also steal, and it was we, Dunmer, who invented the drug skooma, not the Khajiit," Ibaar retorted boldly. "In fact, House Redoran contributed to a large import of skooma that House Indoril found!"

Before the Archmaster could open his big mouth, the Nerevarine raised his hand to show he wanted silence. He then turned to me with his brown eyes. I assume you thought the Nerevarine was a Dunmer, but he is an Imperial.

"Archmagister Helshire," began he, "have you anything to say? You've been awfully quiet."

I smiled, climbing to my feet slowly. My eyes locked with the Archmaster's, and I flashed my white teeth. "I was letting everyone else get their yelling fits out of their system, Your Grace, but if you seek my council, I shall give it openly and without hesitation."

"Though House Telvanni has been an active slavery upholder in the past, I, for one, believe that slavery is wrong. However, because I am a Telvanni, I believe in keeping slavery and mostly all Dunmer rights."

"Except the Temple," murmured the Archmaster under his breath.

I ignored him and continued. "So, I've found a clever way to abolish the unfair treatment of slaves while also maintaining slavery in Morrowind."

"How? By paying the little vermin fair coin?" taunted the idiot.

"No. I'm surprised you even know how to even use 'fair coin' correctly in a sentence," I mocked, making him grit his teeth. "We can modify slavery is what I am saying by using it as hard labor for those who are a burden to society."

"You mean criminals?" Vedam asked.

I nodded. "Instead of letting those who've committed a crime against society shrivel and rot away within the confines of a prison, why not put them to use in a field? That way, they're actually doing good deeds instead of just plotting another heist or murder behind iron bars! And when they've served their sentence, perhaps the owner could offer them a full time job or they'd be let free and another criminal would take his place."

"And let killers around the Dunmeri children and thieves around valuables? Tck, might as well hand them the key!" the village idiot scoffed.

"Well, my second option was just letting the slaves go and capturing all Redoran scum and enslaving them!"

"Of course you would, you Telvanni scum!"

"False God worshipper!"

"Breton harlot!"

"Uncivilized elf!"

"Traitor!"

"Murderer!"

"Enough!" bellowed the Nerevarine.

"You can't possibly consider the necromancer's idea!" he growled. "It's just too risky!"

The Nerevarine grunted, closing his eyes. "But plausible… and beneficial. I'll consider Archmagister Helshire's proposal. This meeting is dismissed."

* * *

><p>"Ooh, I hate that man, Rei!" I was home now, Tel Uvirith to be exact. Deep inside my tower, I was doing what I did best – studying how people died. Clothed in a blue, blood-stained robe and armed with a rusty glass dagger, I ripped open the chest of a dead Altmer with my bear hands. Blood splattered the wooden walls as the rib cage cracked under my strength, revealing the pink lungs and red heart. I heaved a few times while my assistant, the Dwemer sphere I nicknamed Doug (because I "dug" him out of a Dwemer ruin on one of my many travels) took over and held down the chest.<p>

While slicing away carefully at the tissue, I continued to rant. "That man is pure evil, Rei. Pure. Evil. Lloretheni is a terrible person." That was his name – Lloretheni. "My idea is perfect," I seethed, pulling out an artery and throwing it onto the floor for Rei to slurp up. "It would-" I paused to dodge an explosion of blood that emerged when I sliced another open. It went flying into the wall behind me and hit with a loud splat, slowly sliding down and leaving a crimson trail behind. "-satisfy everyone! Doug, get the rib… there." I pointed to a loose, broken rib.

"Okay, Doug, hold down this body. I'm gonna rip this heart out. Ready?" The golden robot nodded and embraced himself. "Go!"

I gave a firm tug and heard the sound of soft tissue snapping away. Within a second, the heart was in my hand. I placed it in a plate and reached for the healthy I had extracted earlier from a female Altmer. I sliced the only I had just brutally ripped out open to reveal its four chambers and compared them by eye to see the difference. I immediately noticed that one chamber was smaller than the healthy heart's. Also, another was sealed shut with some form of mucus.

"Just as I predicted. Aryon owes me fifty drakes for that one," I stated, removing a leather glove to record the data. "It's a miracle that he even lived this long."

"You believe in miracles?"

I turned my head towards the round doorway to find the Nerevarine standing there. I smiled and waved my clean hand. "Come on in!"

"You look busy, so I'll pass." He stared at the jars of organs I'd harvested from different races that people brought in here to be examined and nearly gagged when finding the fetus of a young Argonian.

"Ah, now that one is a true mystery," I stated, removing my other glove and tossing them on the lab table. "Her mother died from the blight, yet her daughter didn't have any signs of that terrible plague."

"You think she was born immune?" the Nerevarine asked, looking at me and hoping for an answer.

I only sighed. "I have no clue, Andrew." That was the name everyone knew him by before he received the title of Nerevarine. The outlander Andrew Relich, born Azura knows where, became Morrowind's hero, and I was his companion throughout the whole ordeal.

"Well, as you said, it's a miracle," he stated with a smile. "Gross, but a miracle." He then paused to scuff the floor with his shoe. "Umm, Avalia, if you're not busy, I'd…"

"Not busy!" I exclaimed. "I'm three days behind in deadlines on these bodies your wonderful Empire has shoved onto me to dissect, Divayth wants an audience with me tomorrow, and I have to meet with the new recruits about their ordeal in nearly blowing half of Shishi to the Ministry of Truth." I then smiled over at him. "So, absolutely not, I'm not busy."

"Well, never mind, then," he stated with a sigh. "I wanted to spend time with you, but…"

Before he could walk away, I grabbed his hand. "How much time?"

"This afternoon," he stated.

"Fine," I said. "Let me get changed."

Saying no to Andrew was like refusing a million gold drakes for me. I just couldn't find the words to say such. And it's such a simple, two letter word, too. No. Then again, Andrew has done so much for me. He saved me from becoming a snack for a corpus stalker, took me to Divayth so my case of corpus disease could be cured, and basically gave me this life I live now. You could say he saved me from my former ignorant self.

And, I suppose you could say I was infatuated with him as well. Yeah, I was flattered he cared enough to save a total stranger who wanted him dead at one time, but something just drew me close to him, some emotion logic cannot describe. I stayed by his side, dedicated myself to the Nerevarine's legacy, and served him. In return, he, too, fell in love with me. However, because of the positions we both held, love wasn't enough to keep us together, and we were slowly falling apart.

After I changed into a not so filthy attire, Andrew and I left my tower. We hid from the Telvanni guards as if fugitives and raced each other down to the shore. There, we teased mudcrabs and skipped rocks until the sun began to bed down over the horizon for the night. We watched it fall into a sleep as we sat on the rocks that were naturally shaped like stepping stones.

"This is beautiful," said I, leaning my head on his shoulder and sighing. He rested his chin on my temple.

"So are you," he replied. I hid my embarrassment by straightening up and playing with my hair. "I miss our adventures, Avalia."

I nodded. "I miss them, too."

"I miss you more, though."

Again, I blushed, turning I assume a bright pink. He always seemed to make me fluster when he said those sorts of things. I grabbed a rock, rose to my feet, and flung it across the orange and purple-painted water. It skipped the surface six to seven times before falling below the surface.

"I miss you, too," I finally managed to choke out, swallowing my weakness that I hated showing.

I heard him shifting behind him and slightly peeped over my shoulder while hiding my flustered face to see him coming towards me. I felt his arms snake around my waist line, and he leaned forward, resting his chin on my shoulder. Our cheeks touched as we gazed out at the sky.

"I love you," he whispered, gently rocking me from left to right.

"I know," I stated, swallowing the knot in my throat. I hated emitting my emotions because I had trust issues and I hated feeling vulnerable. I was so easily intoxicated by his words and melted away from my shell that repelled all the rest of the world when with him.

Back before Andrew was named the Nerevarine by all four Ashlander tribes and Hortator by the three Great Houses, I felt safe with him. Even before I realized I loved him, I felt so secure, like as long as I stood at his side, nothing could harm me. Now, that same feeling came over me and I submitted to it.

"I love you, too." I nuzzled his cheek with mine. "When you gave me Hopesfire just before you and I set off to Red Mountain, I told you this and that we would be forever bound as one."

"Yes," he stated. "I just wish I wasn't the Nerevarine. Then, we could be together… you and I… and these damnable politics would mean nothing." He squeezed me tightly.

I tried to hide the disappointment in my next words because I revered him as the Nerevarine, but I knew what he was saying was true. "But you are…"

"Which means no matter what I do, Avalia, if I side with you on any topic, they'll immediately think I'm picking sides." He sighed deeply. "Avalia, I can't choose your slavery proposal."

My heart sank. "I-I know."

"I'm sorry," he pleaded. "Please forgive me."

"It's alright," I said, hiding the anger and disappointment in my voice. "I understand."

* * *

><p>That night, I found myself once again tearing out organs from a dead body while cursing a man's name into the depths of Mehrunes Dagon's oblivion and beyond. Only this time, it was Andrew and Vedam Dren for giving him the position of Duke of Vvardenfell. I felt betrayed and cheated out of the righteous Andrew who was now forced to make decisions based on political power and not justice.<p>

"It's that damned Lloretheni," I seethed, ripping out a lung from a Khajiit's body. "Always bitching and moaning about the Telvanni. 'They're all a bunch of godless necromancers! All they do is dig up bodies and defile them!' Well, I've got news for that s'wit. I don't make golems out of flesh; I'm documenting illnesses and possible cures so when he catches rockjoint, he won't be laying on his bleeding, groaning in pain!"

And then, the following events occurred as if a nightmare from Oblivion. Aryon and Fast Eddie burst through my lab's door with panic-filled eyes and horrid expressions.

"Something's happened to Andrew!" I recall Fast Eddie stuttering. "He's been framed."

Slowly, I placed my glass dagger down and answered, "Framed for what?"

"The murder of the God-King Vivec!"

My head began to spin as those words slowly sank into my brain. Vivec was dead; the poet-writing Dunmer god was murdered. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Vivec was the only Tribunal god I truly could withstand without wanting to force my fist through his head. He was Andrew's friend, the only one who truly provided help to Andrew. He was his friend.

Why was Andrew accused for this hateful act? It had been I who declared war against them and that I would kill them, one by one, yet Andrew was the one accused of murder? Surely no one would do such a moronic act!

Then again, with the Nerevarine gone and the people of Morrowind turned against him, the Tribunal could rise back into their position of power and reclaim what was once theirs. Redoran would do this; the Temple itself would do this. The only reason they wanted a Nerevarine/Hortator in the first place was to rid Red Mountain of the Sixth House and Dagoth Ur, and even then, they had expected him to fail and die.

And now, with Vivec's death – whether a murder created by them or just a freak happening – they have the chance to erase him from history once more and arise to power. I had to stop this, not out of personal spite but to prevent Dagoth Ur, or something like Dagoth Ur, from regaining strength. Andrew had always said that if his name was ever revoked, the Heart of Lorkhan would regain its power. I couldn't let this happen.

"Meet me in Ebonheart," was all that I said before rushing upstairs to change into my regular clothing. Without giving them time to ask questions, I teleported to Sadrith Mora, and I used the Guild of Mage's teleportation service to travel to Vivec and then taking a boat to Ebonheart. There, I rushed through the lightly drizzling rain up to the ominous castle where Andrew was staying. I burst through the castle doors to find a group of Imperial guards blocking the stair well from several Redoran and Temple people along with Almalexia (no surprise) and the mysterious God-King Sotha Sil. Archcanon Manwar and the kwama forager Lloretheni were there screaming at Officer Barius, Andrew's leading commander. Barius, Azura bless him, was yelling over the crowd back at them.

"Calm down!" the Redguard bellowed. "You can't just barge in here and demand me to arrest him without proof!"

"You're an officer of the law!" Lloretheni shouted. "Why are you not enforcing it?"

"Because you have failed to present proper evidence! Now I must ask you to get the Oblivion out!"

"You Imperials are all the same," I heard Almalexia murmur before shouldering through the group and scurrying up the stairs. Before she vanished, I caught the sight of her holding a brown, ragged cloth with numerous crimson stains on it.

I pushed passed them all as well and followed her trail. While climbing the spiral staircase, I heard this animal-like cry pierce through the air for at least five minutes. It left me rendered immobile from the blast of noise and confusion. Was that Almalexia who made that scream? In my confusion, I allowed the rest of the group to move passed me. After I regained my train of thought, I continued up.

Once reaching the top, I saw over the heads that Andrew, defenseless, was being threatened by Lloretheni who had a large claymore swung over his head and prepared to strike. I leaped passed everyone and sheltered Andrew my throwing myself in front of him, arms outstretched.

"Move, Telvanni!" Lloretheni yelled. "I won't hesitate to kill you, either!"

"Do it!" I challenged. "By the Daedra Prince Hircine, himself, I want you to strike me where I stand so I can rip your pathetic torso in half and feed you to the slaughterfish that swim below us!"

Stunned, he sheathed his sword. Andrew, confused, came to my side and asked, "What's going on? Why are they all here?"

Without removing my green, narrowed eyes from the kwama forager before me, I answered in a low tone, "You've been charged of murder."

Andrew gasped. "Murder?"

"Yes. It's House Redoran's latest attempt to foil your reign. It seems Vivec met a non-gold-like end, and they're blaming you." I then smiled. "A god sure can bleed, can he not, Lady Almalexia."

Lloretheni attempted to take a swing at me, but Archcanon Manwar of the High Fane raised his hand. "Archmagister Avalia, we do not wish to mock him. We have proof."

"Proof!" I scoffed. "Show me your proof!"

Lloretheni violently withdrew a bloodied cloth from his pocked and unraveled it to reveal the sacred Kagrenac tool Keening, stained with crimson blood from one end to the other. He threw it at my feet and yelled, "There is your proof, you necromancer! Only the Nerevarine who wields Wraithguard can use Keening to slay a god!"

"Hah!" I laughed. "You call this proof! Only a Redoran such as you could possess such ignorance! Though Wraithguard is, indeed, needed to wield Keening and its brother, Sunder, anyone can transport Keening without Wraithguard. You, yourself, just proved that."

"Can they stab it into the torso of a God!" Almalexia asked, gripping the tattered robes close to her chest. Her yellow eyes were glaring down at the floor as she rocked herself.

"Vivec wasn't a god!" I yelled back. "And neither are you. You used the Heart of Lorkhan to gain your powers, like Dagoth Ur, and with Andrew gone, that heart will return. I bet you killed him, didn't you, Almalexia?"

"Blasphemy!" howled Lloretheni, raising his sword over his head, but with a swift movement of my hand, I knocked it across the room where it hit the wall with a loud clank and fell on the ground with a clatter.

Lloretheni stared at it for a moment before glancing back at me. I let weak flames burst onto my fists and dance around my wrists before taking a combat stance while they still glowed. Lloretheni removed two daggers and prepared for combat.

What stopped us was the sound of metal clanking on the hard ground from behind me. I let my guard fall and turned my head to see Andrew was removing Wraithguard. I lurched at him, tugging at his arm for him to stop, but he pushed me away.

"Andrew, don't do this," I pleaded. "Don't confess to something you didn't do!"

He wasn't listening. He jerked Wraithguard off and threw it to the ground. Then, he slowly pulled the Moon-and-Star ring, given to him by the Daedra Prince Azura, herself, in the Cavern of the Incarnate as an emblem to show everyone that he was, in fact, the true Nerevarine, the true incarnate of Lord Indoril Nerevar Moon-and-Star. He looked it over as I saw a glimmer slightly twinkle on the star part, and next, he let it fall to the ground.

"Azura!" he bellowed, eyes gazing towards the ceiling. "I no longer wish to carry this burden of prophecy! I no longer wish to be the Nerevarine!"

Thunder outside the castle loudly rumbled and shook the room as the faint smell of roses filled the air, growing stronger. A strong, feminine voice rang out from somewhere, though no one could pinpoint where.

"Andrew Relich, protector of my people and bearer of the Moon-and-Star, is this your wish to forfeit the title of Nerevarine and allow the Heart of Lorkhan to reawaken to its former power?"

"No," I whispered. "In the name of Hircine, say no!"

"Yes," Andrew growled. "I no longer want to serve you and your proud people!"

"Then I, Azura, Daedra Prince of Dusk and Dawn relieve you of your status. You have forfeited each Kagrenac tool and Nerevar's ring and will forever be known as Andrew Relich. All restrains on the Heart are gone."

"No!" I shouted, watching in horror as the Kagrenac tools faded along with the Moon-and-Star ring. "For the love of Hircine, stop!"

I wasn't the only one who was praying. The Imperials were chanting prayers to their gods, the Nine Divines, while the Dunmer looked to Almalexia and Sotha Sil for guidance and salvation. The truth was no one could save us now. I could hear in the distance the frightening howls of gales carrying red ashes. As they approached, even in the pitch of night, I could see from the window the red that was hinted in them. It was too late; Dagoth Ur had returned.

My head slowly turned to Lloretheni who was watching the ashes blow on the winds as well, his face filled with fear and confusion. Anger furled in my heart and fed my powers. I let forth a battle cry that only a Nord could match as I raised my hand and gave violent shove to the air. With that shove, Lloretheni was hurled across the room and back-first into the wall where a shield with the Imperial symbol came crashing down. I half-walked, half-ran towards and lifted him off of his feet with my telekinesis so he dangled helplessly. I squeezed his throat with this force as well.

"You ignorant n'wah! You've doomed us all!" I yelled. People swore that in this moment, my eyes were as red as a Dunmer's. He choked an apology I suppose but it wasn't good enough. I squeezed tighter. "I'll kill you!"

"Avalia, stop!" Aryon pleaded, now at my side, but he couldn't stop me. At this point, no one could.

No one except Divayth Fyr could, who had made his appearance on the scene to find me choking Lloretheni unconscious. Without moving from the entry way, he spoke in a firm tone. "Let him go, Avalia."

Without hesitation, I let Lloretheni fall to the floor where several Redoran fools rushed to aid him. I turned to Divayth with a grimace at the order he had issued. Despite me being Archmagister, Divayth and I were friends, and we respected one another deeply. He had saved me from corpus by providing a cure.

"We aren't Redoran trash, so don't stoop to their level," he commented while glowering at Lloretheni.

"You're right," I stated. "I'm not him." I turned to Lloretheni and pointed a finger at him. "You listen to me. Without Andrew, Vvardenfell will need a Duchess, and I'm planning on taking that spot. Do I make myself clear?"

Lloretheni merely chuckled. "We'll see. We'll see."


	2. Prologue, Part 2

If it was truly possible to hate one person on this planet more than I hated Lloretheni, that person would be the God-King Almalexia for more personal reasons than one could count. Starting with, she tried to have me killed by sending me on a suicidal mission way back when I was the Archcanon of the Temple, back in my ignorant days. She most likely did not like me because I had challenged her when returning, telling her that I would be the one to kill them, one by one. Now, with King Helseth away in Cyrodiil with Queen Beranziah, Almalexia was left to choose the next Duke – or Duchess – of Vvardenfell.

Upon hearing this, I nearly took off Neloth's head. He was the only one of us Telvanni who lived in Sadrith Mora, the main city of House Telvanni, so he heard politics quite frequently. In fact, I appointed him as my political advisor when I became Archmagister. He tried to assure me that I was overreacting and taking things out of context, but I wasn't.

No, Mr. Lloretheni of Great House Redoran was running against me. We had to speak in front God-King Almalexia and an enormous crowd in Mournhold tonight. Lloretheni worshipped Almalexia, for he was once a House Indoril official. House Indoril serves Almalexia as Ordinators. Rumors state he was one of "Her Hands"- or personal dogs she keeps in her High Chapel to protector her and command at her will. Well, she certainly didn't have a Lloretheni when I was Archcanon, and how he managed to switch Houses is beyond me (but I will agree House Redoran fits him the best).

Neloth assured me that all would be taken care of, but for Azura's sake, everyone knows the Telvanni do not have political connections. We tend to stay as far away from the strain of politics as possible, avoiding the public eye. Neloth could not possibly have connections! What was also bad was House Telvanni had a terrible reputation for harboring necromancers and conjuring strange creatures. Though I was known for many courageous acts and noble deeds, it would be impossible for the crowd to see past my Archmagister title. Not only this, but I knew Lloretheni would reiterate in his speech my House and things I've done to promote it.

Yet, I still sat in that velvet chair on the stage in the Great Bazaar facing thousands of people all crowded around to view the fate of Vvardenfell. With Neloth and Aryon at my sides and Fyr hiding in the crowd, watching, I swallowed the knot that dwelled in the pit of my throat as Almalexia came to the edge of the stage.

"Citizens of Morrowind!" she addressed with her smoothest tone. "Draw your attention to me if you will! As each of you have heard, it seems the Nerevarine has been killed defending Vivec."

Oh, I forgot to mention that the lie the Tribunal came up with to protect their power and keep the public from knowing of Vivec's death was that Andrew defended Vivec from a Daedra invasion lead by Mehrunes Dagon. Most Ordinators of high rank confirmed this. The public thought Andrew was dead and Vivec was alive. Well, it was better than saying Andrew tried to murder Vivec and died, I must admit.

"As devastating as this is to our culture, we must pick up the ashes and move on. We are all here to decide the candidate. Though I am the one who chooses, I will use your opinion as council and pick the one you want to lead."

The crowd cheered while I gawked. Almalexia was going to let the _people_ choose for _her_? No. This was a trick. Almalexia would **never** allow someone to do something like this for her. Not unless she knew they'd choose in her favor.

"Sounds like Almalexia is too lazy to choose," Aryon teased. I gently laughed.

Neloth grunted. "No, she's bound to have something up her sleeve. I wouldn't be surprised if every one of those people out there were Redorans, Indorils, and pilgrims of the Temple."

"Well, Divayth is out there," I stated. "And his daughters. And Yagum if he's that table." I pointed slightly to a table at the far end that was oddly shaped. We all slightly chuckled.

"Avalia, I'll be happier than a mudcrab in mud if you even get one vote," Aryon said. "If you get one vote, just one, from someone other than Divayth and his daughters, it means people saw the truth about you and not your title."

I smiled at Aryon; we were close friends also. When I was rising rapidly in the ranks of the Telvanni, he edged me along, became my patron (because Divayth refused to keep me secluded on an island away from people), and named me Archmagister. He believed in me more than Neloth, maybe even more than Divayth if that was possible.

"I won't let our House down," I stated.

"Lloretheni," Almalexia said, glancing towards the Dunmer with admiring eyes, "you will speak first."

"And here is where all of Oblivion lets loose," Aryon groaned quietly as Lloretheni approached the center of the stage.

"Fellow citizens of Morrowind," he began, "a tragedy has befallen our great Nerevarine. Though he died in the most… noble of ways," he nearly choked on his own words when forcing that phrase out; pity he did not, though, "we must move on. It is what our hero would want. And what better way of starting off than electing a Telvanni to lead Vvardenfell, right? Hah! Archmagister Helshire has no right to be here."

_Oh, goody, a degrading speech about me and my mistakes to make himself look better. Lloretheni, you are predictable,_ I thought to myself.

"We all are familiar with House Telvanni's tendency to house necromancers and test on innocent lives. Well, do you want one as your Duchess?" When he asked this question, he pointed to one of Divayth's daughters. She nodded her head, and Lloretheni was taken back. "Well, I for one don't. And I think the mass majority doesn't, either. Not a Telvanni traitor, anyhow.

"Most of you don't know that Miss Avalia Helshire betrayed the Temple for House Telvanni two hundred years ago!"

"Liar!" I shouted, jumping to my feet. Neloth and Aryon forced me to remain seated. Almalexia flashed me a glare that told me to hold my tongue.

"Even now, she doesn't want the truth out, but she did. What's worse is when the Guild of Mages were threatening the Telvanni's regulation on teaching spells and magic, she went and killed Archmage Trebonious to earn favor in her House. Then, she kills Archmagister Gothren when he won't name the Nerevarine Hortator. So what's to keep her from killing you people if you don't do what she wants?

"I would never do such a despicable act! I am for you, not my House!"

His lies stung my ears like a thousand wasps. I could not stand him, but Almalexia and her guards would not allow me to speak out against him. I just bit my tongue for the remainder of the time he spoke, gritting my teeth so harshly that I was amazed I didn't wear them down to the gum.

Finally, he shut his ugly mouth and sat down, allowing me to stand and speak. I walked confidently to the stage, portraying a sort of prideful swagger in my step. All of the confidence faded upon seeing the countless eyes staring at me, waiting. My voice was caught in my throat; I could barely breathe.

"Well, Archmagister Avalia?" Almalexia taunted, urging me talk.

"A-as you all know, I am Archmagister of Great House Telvanni," I began, voice shaking.

_The truth,_ I thought to myself. _Let's give them the truth._

My stage fright faded away. "But, I don't want this to be about titles. Titles tend to blind a person from seeing the truth, and that's what all of you want, correct? The truth?"

No one objected, so I continued. "We aren't here to listen to a moron rant about other people and their business. We're here to replace the Duke of Vvardenfell with a competent leader. Now, throughout Lloretheni's speech, I didn't hear anything pertaining to what he was willing to do for you. All I heard was my mistakes and past flaws mentioned repeatedly."

The crowd laughed slightly, and I knew they were beginning to see my point.

"But, I'm not going to sit here and gripe about my rival. I want you to know what I'm willing to do for you. As most of you are aware of, I was a very close friend to the Nerevarine, even before he came into office. I am familiar and actually coaxed him to use some of his methods. He wanted to keep the Dunmer ways we all love so well but at the same time please those who want to become civilized. Andrew is an honorable man, and I do not expect to fill his job equally. I'm not sure anyone could.

However, I can promise you that I will do my best, starting with slavery. Granted, I have no use for such an act. I believe everyone should be treated fairly, so why lock up people who have not yet been judged? I think we should keep slavery, but use prisoners as workers. They broke the law, so why are we paying for them to sit in a prison and be fed and pampered? We have to work for our food! So should they!"

"Yeah!" yelled a person among the crowd.

"That is why I believe we should take the prisoners and make them harvest the crops, cook in the kitchens, and do the work in general. They have done wrong, not the slaves. They have committed the act against crime. They deserve to be sentenced to hard labor for however many days the crime is worth. A murderer who is given the death sentence should work until the day his head is chopped off and rolls on the floor, not lie in a room while being fed.

Lord Andrew was also focusing on the Tribunal. I don't worship the Tribunal, but I believe anyone who wants to should have the privilage to worship them as they please. It should be your choice to worship whatever you wish. And, the practice of necromancy is also a huge topic.

Would you believe me if I said I would not be alive and stayed alive as long as I have without necromancy? Would you believe that necromancy saved my life?"

The crowd slightly murmured, gazing at one another in confusion. I smiled slyly.

"Lloretheni stated that I had betrayed the Temple and forsaken my duties when I crossed over the Ghostgate. He is wrong. When Archcanon, I did everything in my power to find a cure for the dreaded Corpus disease. I believed there was one and wanted to find it and distribute it. O Great Almalexia sent me to the Ghostgate to find this 'mythical' plant that held that cure." I then slightly laughed, stopping my pacing and looking up at the sky.

"I was nearly killed searching a cave it was supposed to be in. Corpus Stalker decided to take a big chunk out of my side and eat it. Luckily, Lord Andrew was retracing a few steps and exploring the cave once more. He found me, rescued me, and took me to Divayth Fyr where I woke up and found I was diagnosed with Corpus Disease myself. Devastated, I wanted to die… but Divayth had a cure.

A Telvanni wizard, the ones who hoard skeletons and test on children and whatever you whisper about, had a cure for my disease, but your great Temple did not and sent the victims and their own followers to him to die in the worst state."

"Blasphemy!" shouted Lloretheni, jumping to his feet and rushing to my side. "Do not believe this witch's lies. The Temple did not have a cure because such a disease cannot be cured! She still has it! It's in her heart! The soul sickness consumed her and forced her to turn away from the Temple."

"Almalexia sent me to die!" I shouted at him, making the crowd gasp. "She wanted me out of the way because I knew there was more to that disease than straying from the Temple."

"How dare you speak of Lady Almalexia in such a manner! This is exactly why women should not lead! They forget their place!" he shouted.

"Shut up, Lloretheni!" Our heads turned to see Divayth standing in the midst of the crowd. "You will sit down and honor Avalia's speech as she did yours. You will remain seated until it is over."

He did not argue with the four thousand year old wizard. Divayth was not one to be reckoned with. Lloretheni sat down without another word.

"I am not trying to say that your Gods are wrong; I am saying that they are trying to keep you ignorant in the ways of medicine. Modern medicine we Telvanni use can solve your troubles. We can heal you, make you stronger, and it's all through the practice of necromancy. Andrew believed this, also. He wanted to pass a law that allowed the Telvanni to sell remedies. Andrew wanted to help you as I do, so please, give me the chance to show you that my House is not what you think. Let me show you the way to a better life, the life Nerevarine Andrew Relich wanted you all to have."

There was silence amongst the hoard of people for a moment. Then, a few individuals began chanting a phrase repeatedly. The chanting grew louder and louder and louder, soon filling what felt like all of Mournhold with its power.

"Nerevarine's Nerevarine! Nerevarine's Nerevarine! Make her queen! Make her queen!"

This chant really surprised me. These people actually preferred me over Lloretheni. They saw passed the façade he had attempted to cast by basing me on my title. They wanted me as the next leader of Vvardenfell.

I was honored and filled with this sense of satisfaction. With a triumphant glare, I turned to Almalexia who fumed with this anger. "_Your_ people seem to have spoken."

She growled, pushing passed me to address them.

"Enough!" she yelled. "Silence your cries! You have spoken your opinion, now here is mine. Avalia is **not** the Nerevarine's Nerevarine. She is a liar and a traitor to her Temple. If you elect her, you will have condemned yourselves to death and betrayal! Great House Telvanni will begin sliding with things they once could not until you are all slaves and test subjects."

"You are wrong," said a Khajiit amongst the crowd, his face hidden behind a hood. "You cannot see your foolishness because you are blinded by your own pride, Almalexia. Even a Khajiit such as S'maiq can see this. If you are a woman of your word and want what is best for your people, you will choose Avalia as the Duchess of Vvardenfell, not Lloretheni."

I expected Almalexia to argue pointlessly with this Khajiit, but instead, she growled with defeat. "Fine. Avalia will be crowned tomorrow as Duchess of Vvardenfell at noon. The ceremony will not be held tonight because of Andrew's burial."

With a large, wide grin, I watched Almalexia angrily tromp away. Victory was mine.

* * *

><p>That night, I found it hard to rest. I was excited about my victory over Lloretheni and Almalexia. Finally, I could provide Vvardenfell with competence like Andrew had given. Lying in bed with Rei at my side, we both stared at one another as I chattered her ear off.<p>

"It is exciting, isn't it, Rei? You and I will be leading Vvardenfell!"

Rei wagged her tail, not lifting her head from her paws. She didn't seem to grasp the importance of this situation. Being a wolf, you would think she was unintelligent, but Rei was keen in many ways. She understood me more than one would think, but tonight, I think she was just exhausted from our trip here.

"Of course, I'm not going to live in that Imperial structure Ebonheart. We'll move everything into Tel Uvirith and name it our headquarters. I know it'll be flooded with people, and I know you don't like people, but it's for the best."

Rei whined. She was begging me to shut up. I smiled and patted her head. "Alright. We'll talk more tomorrow."

I lay there for several hours, it seemed, staring out my window, replaying the chant people yelled over and over. "Nerevarine's Nerevarine! Make her queen!" Of course, I would not be queen; Morrowind had a queen – Queen Barenziah. I would be Duchess of only Vvardenfell, but that was enough. I was satisfied with that.

I don't know what time I drifted to sleep, but when I did, I had a terrible nightmare that still makes me shiver. Daedra were flooding Morrowind through oval, hellish gates and wreaking havoc on everyone. House Telvanni were trying in vain to close them, but the power of these gates was too strong. I saw the Daedra Prince Mehrunes Dagon looming over the city of Cyrodiil, crushing everything in his path. I witnessed the fall of Cyrodiil and Mehrunes entering Morrowind where I, Duchess of Vvardenfell, and King Helseth waited, armed and waiting to protect our people.

It did not end well, for the giant, four-armed Daedra merely picked us up in our arms and crushed us in his grip. The picture faded and was replaced with a glowing moon and star emblem, much like the one Andrew's ring had.

I knew Azura had sent me these disturbing images. I called out, "What is the meaning of this? Why are you showing me these? Is this my fate?"

"_Avalia, you must not become Duchess of Vvardenfell,"_ she replied gently. My eyes widened.

"_It is not your destiny to fight Mehrunes Dagon as Duchess. If you do, then all will fall victim to him and his army of dremora."_

"He's here, isn't he?" I asked her. "He's here on Tamriel."

"_Not yet, Avalia, but soon. As for now, you have business at home to worry about. Dagoth Ur has returned to Red Mountain, for the Heart of Lorkhan beats once more."_

"No," I whispered. "No, this can't be. Not so soon. We aren't ready yet! Andrew has not yet been freed."

"_Andrew is no longer the Nerevarine. There is a new Nerevarine. Two, to be precise."_

"Two?" I questioned. "Two Nerevarines?"

"_From races hated by Dunmer rise the heroes who will vanquish the Tribe Unmourned. An outlander, who speaks differently for his kind, and a native born here and raised by mer. Together, united under moon and star, will rid the crater of Dagoth and his family once more. Avalia, you must not become the Duchess, for you are needed to set these two on the right path. You are needed not as Duchess but as you. When Almalexia crowns you Duchess, you must reject the crown. Lie if you must to explain your reasons, but do not speak a single word of Mehrunes Dagon's threat to Tamriel. It is not Almalexia's, Lloretheni's, or anyone else's concern."_

Before I could ask any more questions, I was awake in my bed, gazing at the sun's rays seeping through my bedroom window and onto the green textured floors of the room. Many people would believe this to be merely a dream, discard it into the deepest crevices of their minds, and go about their business regularly. However, I did not take omens lightly. When spending time in the Urshilaku Tribe, the wise woman Mamea said that dreams were powerful tools the gods used to communicate with us mortals. I believed this strongly. If Azura did not want me to be Duchess, I would not be Duchess.

The question now was how am I going to break it to the crowd.

* * *

><p>Noon rolled around quicker than expected. Standing before an even larger audience than last night was rather frightening. All of these people believed in me, and I was going to let them down. I glanced down at my ring, as I always did when seeking guidance from the Daedra Lord Hircine, and prayed for his helping hand. Even though this was not his specialty, I put nearly all of my faith into him and Azura for guidance. Never have they failed me.<p>

"Avalia Helshire, please step forward," called Almalexia. She was standing at the edge of the stage holding a crown in her hands. I rose to my feet and walked forward to claim the prize I would soon turn down. I still prayed to Hircine to show me a sign that this is what truly must be done.

"In the absence of King Hlaalu Helseth, it is my duty to crown the most competent candidate as Duchess of Vvardenfell. Since I left this decision in the hands of my people, they have chosen you. So, with great honor, will you accept this crown and wear it, bearing all of the duties as Duchess of Vvardenfell? Will you stand by these great people and honor your word of justice and righteousness?"

I stared at the golden circlet with green emerald jewels. Seeing my reflection in them made me want to accept the gift. In one jewel, I saw myself as a prosperous "queen," decorated in fancy garments and garnished with jewelry and adored by my loyal subjects, but in the other, I saw a fiery image of a skeleton with eyes as black as coal and bones bleached white. She bore the circlet, also, and all the garments and garnishes, but lacked the adoration the other received. Instead, she was mourned. In the middle, I saw modern-day me with Hircine glancing over my shoulder, his face hidden by his deer helm. The Daedra Prince nodded, and I knew then that this was a sign to follow Azura's words.

"I cannot accept," I stated, pushing the circlet away. The crowd gasped as even Almalexia's eyes drew in shock. I turned from her to face my confused audience.

"I am sorry, but I am not destined to become the Duchess of Vvardenfell. I am not worthy of such a title, and I have received an omen of death if I become it."

Again, the audience gasped at the word death. Almalexia, in fury of being rejected even after agreeing to name me Duchess, nearly threw the crown at Her Hands in anger. She pointed a bony, golden finger at me and narrowed her yellow eyes.

"You listen to me," she growled, "you fought tooth and nail for this position. Are you saying you're not good enough for it or it's not good enough for you! Speak up! We **all** want to know!"

"Neither," I stated. "I just don't want to be killed. Dagoth Ur has returned and upon hearing news from a Sixth House spy of my rise in politics has issued a bounty on my head. If I become Duchess, you'll lose me as quick as you gain me. I have to be confined in my tower where I am safe, not a brick castle protected by outlandish dogs." I then motioned with my head to Lloretheni. "He has not been in Dagoth Ur's citadel, infiltrated his strongholds, and destroyed his family. In fact, he had no ties to Moon-and-Star. Let him be Duke of Vvardenfell. At least he'll last longer."

"Very well," Almalexia said. "I had thought Dagoth Ur was returning rapidly, but I had not expected him to be so vengeful, Avalia."

"Neither did I," I lied, laughing to myself that she believed my fairytale. "Azura was the one to inform me of this, and I'm thankful she did."

"So am I," Lloretheni voiced, stepping forward. "A Telvanni should never lead." He snatched the crown from Almalexia's hands. "I am your Duke, and you will obey me!"

"All hail the duke!" the crowd yelled. I was literally sick to my stomach for condemning them to one hundred years of Lloretheni treachery. That's how long it took for the new Nerevarine to arrive on Vvardenfell – 100 years.


	3. It's About Time We Got Here!

The boat came to a rocky halt at the docks of Seyda Neen, and the first thought that came to my mind was "it's about time." I had been on this awful, smelly, cramped-up boat for too damn long. Seriously. I'd written that on the left wall of my bunk. Day Too Damn Long. Anyways, my legs were locked up and knotted badly from being crammed inside the tiny room with Jiub, a dark elf. Then again, this was one of those prisoner transporting Imperial ships, and they're all cramped, right?

Yeah, I've been in the pin back in Cyrodiil. So what? Doesn't mean I'm a sorry, low class piece of trash. Why, I even learned a lot of things while there! And it's not like I was in for murder. I stole an apple off a seedy merchant and got caught. Spent six months in a cell with a dark elf in the one across from me. He'd taunt me and yell nasty things, so I broke out and smashed his face into his skull. Big deal! He was trash! By my sentencing lengthened for two years after that incident. People said I'd never get out of that smelly, rat and goblin-infested hole-of-a-prison.

Somehow, though, I was put in the fancy prisoner relocation program the Emperor came up with for those individuals he thought needed a second chance. Somehow, my name got drawn from the hat I supposed those guards used to choose us, and now I was in the province of Morrowind on an Imperial boat docked at the little fishing village Seyda Neen.

Just by hearing things about this place, Morrowind wasn't my favorite province. To begin with, the dark elves here kept slaves, and most of the slaves here were Argonians and Khajiits. Even though all the other provinces in Tamriel are slave free, those disgusting mongrels get to crack a whip over our heads while we pick their alien vegetation or mine their putrid kwama eggs. Damn dark elves… racist bastards…

Anyway, I got a free pass to a new start in Morrowind on the island of Vvardenfell. Granted, I would have preferred the Summerset Isles, but beggars can't be choosers, right? I was thankful to have a second chance at life and turn my life around. After all, the Emperor hand selected me. I was one of the few that weren't randomly drawn from a cap.

Jiub and I rose to our feet as the guard approached. He motioned for me to follow. Before doing so, I stretched my under-used legs out and yawned. Then, I followed. Up to the hatch and out onto the deck we went.

The scenery was rather different than expected. Instead of giant mushrooms and wild guar roaming the area, there was a swamp with mudcrabs scuttling about in the mud and cliff racers flapping around, crying in their strange tongue. I'd done some research about Morrowind, and nowhere did it tell me it had swamps! I thought for a moment we'd missed Morrowind and ended up in Black Marsh, but Black Marsh didn't have cliff racers. Those winged, dragon-like birds were natives to Morrowind only. After taking in the scenery for one final moment, I scurried on into the Census and Exercise Office.

Inside, an old man greeted me and motioned for me to sit down so the questioning could begin.

"Ah yes, we've been expecting you. You'll have to be recorded before you're officially released!" he stated brightly. "First, what is your name?"

"Arbashka," I stated with a smile. The man stared at me confused, bewildered actually.

"Your voice…"

"Yeah," I stated, rolling my eyes. "I'm well aware that I don't emphasize my R's like a regular Khajiit." I then purred, continuing to explain. "I also don't reiterate my name or have that husky accent you hear all Khajiits have. I was taught how to talk in prison two years back."

It was true. Before prison, I was an ignorant, primitive, grunting cat with no understanding of the world. I have no recollection of where I came from, who my family was, and apparently, I'd forgotten how to talk, read, and write. An Imperial officer taught me and supplied me with books. Within six months of training, I could read three different languages, speak in them, and write elaborate, well-composed sentences in them as well. I never acquired that accent all Khajiits have or the repetition of my name instead of the pronouns "I" and "me." I was unique in my own sense.

"That's very different," the man stated. I wanted to punch him in the face because he had this aura about him that screamed "moron."

We continued with the questions and answers. Some I had no answers to because of my lack of memory about my past, some I refused to answer, but all in all, I gave proficient answers. In fact, I was probably more intelligent than him. After completing this, I had to take my papers to the captain.

In the other room, there was a table set out for some to feast at in style. I "borrowed" a few bread pieces lying in basket on a bench, and I helped myself to the rusty dagger jabbed into the table. Then, I press forward.

Stepping through the next door, I got a taste of the fresh air on the outside once more. I was, though, confined to a small opening with only one way out – through a door leading to the Imperial captain. I decided to snoop through the barrel next to this door and discovered a few extra drakes which I humbly took (no one else was gonna use them.) Then, I entered the next room where I found the captain.

He looked over my papers, handed me eighty drakes, told me the best places to find jobs, and set me on my way. I exited his building and stepped foot onto the streets of Seyda Neen a free man for the first time.

Shacks were set up everywhere with people of all races interacting and exchanging words of rumor and gossip accordingly. I removed the dagger and studied its blade, running a claw over it to test its durability. Unsurprisingly, it was dull to the core, worn down to where it would be lucky to cut butter. I decided to check the local trade house just up the only street to see if he would trade.

Entering the building, I found two Altmer – a male behind the counter greedily summarizing the gold he had acquired and a female off to the side sweeping up the dust that was all over the floor. I walked up to the counter and whipped out the dagger.

"Would you be willing to trade for a nicer one?"

The Altmer stared at it for a moment before picking up to examine its quality. No more than two seconds later, he scoffed and threw it back at me.

"No," he stated, "I'd pay one septim for the piece of scrap metal and that's about it."

"Can't ya' fix it up?" I asked. "Or at least give me a deal on a newer one?"

He laughed. "Look, I can tell you're not from around here. Your accent tells me you were probably raised in Cyrodiil and by Imperials at that. I'm not like those illiterate buffoons over in Cyrodiil City who can be convinced to sell their own soul for a septim or two. I'm also not a dense Orc with the ability to craft a Daedric blade from the soil. I'm an Altmer running Arielle's Trade House in a run-down fishing village."

"And I'm a poor Khajiit with eighty drakes, four pieces of bread, and a rusty dagger to his name. Now, I'm willing to give you forty of those eighty drakes for a new one," I tried to bargain.

The Altmer scoffed, "Forty drakes? Pah! Sixty drakes and I'll consider it."

My yellow eyes narrowed as my ears fell back. "Forty-five."

"Sixty drakes or no dagger."

"I'll give you fifty."

"Fifty-five."

"Fifty, that's as high as I'll go."

The Altmer finally sighed. "Fine, fifty it is then." He reached under his counter and withdrew a steel dagger with a blade spic and clean. I threw him the fifty septims and took the dagger, leaving the old, rusty one on his desk.

I left Seyda Neen, heading east while sticking to the dirt road. The skin under my fur tingled with the excitement of exploration. Adventure awaited in the land of Vvardenfell. There was so much to do, so much to see. The rays that sank through the leaves of the draped trees warmed my sandy fur, and I shivered in anticipation. Damn, it felt good to be free.

I strolled along, watching from a distance the mudcrabs snap their pincers at one another to establish dominance or perhaps communicate. Occasionally, a suicidal rat would decide to attack me, but it quickly met its end. I had gone a few miles away from Seyda Neen and into the wilderness when this beautiful music drifted into my ears. It was divine, like a goddess was singing, so I decided to follow.

Through the weeds and grasses of the marsh I ventured until coming to a little pond where an Argonian maiden was wading in, harvesting plants. I couldn't really see over the brush, so, in one graceful leap, I perched myself in a tree, my forepaws' claws digging into the branch while my hind legs were pushed up. My hands rested between my legs and my tail gently hung down and swayed with the breeze as if a vine. I pushed my ears forward to listen more intently to the song.

"Come along! Come along! Little ones, follow me!

I have a story to tell of the Nerevarine!

Red mountain, he goes,

To vanquish his foes,

The devil will die,

And so will the Blight!

Incarnate, our savior,

In Azura's favor,

Moon and Star, Moon and Star,

He is Indoril Nerevar."

Granted, I had no idea what any of that meant. It was probably some native song the Dunmer sang their offspring as a lullaby. The way this Argonian was singing the song, even in my excitement, I could have fallen asleep. And it wasn't just her voice that was beautiful. Every feature about her was. She was a pale, nearly white, gray with two little horns spawning from her head. On them were red velvet ribbons hanging down from golden circlets. She wore short, purple robe with a sash around her waist.

While I admired her beauty, my ear twitched at the sound of leaves rustling to my right. I slightly caught something black in the corner of my eye but did not want to turn away from the image. I did, though, and I'm thankful still today for doing so.

In the tree next to me was a person, elf, or whatever, dressed in black from head to toe and face covered by a mask. He had a bow drawn back and aimed at the Argonian maiden. Without hesitating, I withdrew my dagger and yelled out a warning.

"Look out!"

My yell luckily made the person jump in shock and miss the shot, but I was positive I wouldn't miss mine. I whirled my dagger towards the person in the tree and hit him dead on, striking the side of his temple. He fell from the tree, landing on his back with the bow lying on top of him. I jumped from the tree in time to see this man's accomplice dashing forward towards the maiden. I leaped towards him and intercepted the attack with my shoulder. Pushing it deep into his gut, he let out a huff of hot air and fell to his knees, dropping his glass dagger in the process. He then climbed to his feet and took a swing at me.

I dodged and sent him flailing into the murky pond face first. Before he could recover and climb to the surface, I was on top of him, pushing him down into the pond's mud. He waved his arms about, splashing the water everywhere as he struggled to breathe. I held on for dear life. Eventually, his movements became sluggish and finally ceased. I climbed off in triumph over the villain, breathing heavily.

Casting a gaze to the Argonian who was on her rump staring at me with wide, fearful green eyes, I stated in a huff, "You okay?"

She nodded, hand clenched and on her chin. Her eyes then fell to the pond where the second attacker lay. "He tried to kill me."

"Tried," I said, climbing out and grabbing the dagger. I rubbed the grime he had splashed on it off on my ragged shirt before sheathing it. "But failed."

"Th-thank you," she stuttered, not facing me.

"No problem," I shrugged. "But I'd be more careful. Apparently you pissed the wrong person off."

"B-but I've done nothing!" she finally choked. "I'm just a pilgrim of the Almsivi Temple and an associate of the Guild of Mages!"

"Well, whoever it was paid the Dark Brotherhood to kill you."

In case you don't have a clue whom the Dark Brotherhood is, consider yourself lucky. They strike fear even in the hardiest of Nords, let me tell you. Worshippers of the mysterious Night Mother and Sithis, they're hired assassins. The coldest of the cold, they'd kill their own mother if paid to.

When in prison, I had had a member sneak through my cell and into the dark elf's that I'd beat up. He slit his throat and left unseen – except for me. The guards made me infiltrate their hideout because of my own expert sneaking and assassination skills – from where I obtained them, I have no clue. I had to kill two of their main members, a vampire named Vincent and an Argonian they called Sheeva. I got in, killed them, and got the Oblivion out.

However, this kill was supposed to cripple and even collapse the organization. Seeing this meant we had failed in finding the true leader. I had experience with the Dark Brotherhood from these two occasions, so I knew just how deadly they were.

"The Dark Brotherhood!" she yelped. "Oh, Sweet Almsivi, save me!" The maiden dropped to her knees and clasped her hands together to pray. I rolled my eyes.

"Where are you headed, maiden?" I asked, taking out the glass dagger once more and picking at my claws. It was sharp enough to slice a well-armored soldier in two with a single slice.

"Vivec City," she whimpered, now climbing to her feet. "I have to meet my teacher there. She will be unpleased if I am late."

"Well," I began, "I can accompany you."

"Oh, no," the maiden quickly voiced. "Do not bare my burden! I have no money to pay you for such a kind act."

"So?" I questioned. "I'm not in it for money! It's just a kind gesture. I know the Dark Brotherhood, had some run ins before. You can't make it to Vivec alone. Let me accompany you."

"And you want no pay?"

I shook my head. "No. Just sightseeing and adventure. I mean, I'm new and – "

"Oh," she sort of scoffed, giving a look of disappointment. "You're an outlander."

A simple word like outlander stung me deep. No matter where I went I found it hard fitting in. In Cyrodiil, I was an ignorant mute and thief. Here I was an outlander. Swallowing the bile that had surfaced in my mouth, I turned on my heel and began away.

"W-wait!" she called, racing to my side to catch up with me. "Where are you going?"

"Away," I growled, not meeting her gawking gaze as I continued to walk. "I'm an outlander, as you said."

"I didn't mean it like that! It just startled me because you so willing volunteered to aid me yet you have no clue where Vivec City is."

She was lying; I just knew it. To cover her beautiful ass, she had to pull out some cover story, so I could protect her from the Dark Brotherhood. I wanted to turn away, yell at her and curse her to Oblivion with all the hatred brewing inside my chest, but, I have to say, she was so damn cute. With her begging green eyes and pouting face, I couldn't resist. I was a sucker for a cutie.

"Fine," I sighed. "I'll accompany you, **but** you have to lead me there."

"Deal," she chimed brightly, tilting her head to the side with her eyes closed and a huge, gorgeous smile on her face. "I'm Evening-of-the-First-Snow by the way, but everyone calls me First Snow."

"Arbashka," I said, extending my hand. "Call me Arbashka."


	4. Why me? Just why me?

So, let's reiterate why I went with First Snow in the first place – she was cute. Right, that was the only reason. Why, Arbashka, why? Why must you fall for the cute and annoying religious ones? In case you didn't know – which I'm pretty sure I haven't mentioned before – I'm not religious. I don't believe in the Nine or the Daedra or Sithis or the Almsivi First Snow worshipped and never shut up about. It was illogical.

For one, why would a god or gods create only one planet and nothing else? It made absolutely no sense. And these gods that governed certain aspects of different people… Akatosh, Dibella, Zenithar… Wouldn't they be constantly fighting one another for power instead of existing in harmony? But what really stumped me the most was the whole Talos and Tiber Septim ordeal. How can one be mortal yet be a god?

Well, that was the case with the Almsivi gods. Three mortals who descended into godhood and became immortals are what First Snow and most dark elves worshipped. Even my cellmate Jiub worshipped them. First Snow even stated no one has seen them.

"You have to be a higher ranking temple official to actually meet with Vivec," she had explained. "I'm merely a pilgrim, and I'm happy with this rank. Never could I be a saint or patriarch and achieve such a holy status."

"You're an Argonian," I had said to her once. "These 'gods' are all Chimer, or former Dark Elves."

"Yes, but I was born in Morrowind right here in the Bitter Coast region," she inquired. "I am a child of Morrowind, and the Almsivi gods respect this. You are an outlander, and for you to join the Temple would require many pilgrimages to different shrines. You would have many tests to even achieve my status."

Wow, doesn't that sound like I'm a pathetic, dimwitted outlander that could never be what she is? Pfft, I didn't care! Spending time walking the lands in the names of false gods was not on my agenda. In fact, it sounded **so** fun and **so **exciting that I completely zoned out on everything First Snow had to say about them. Or I did until her useless nonsense penetrated my walls I'd constructed and flooded my barricades with its obnoxious, illiterate composition.

"I'm a patron to Vivec more than the others because of his many doings for his people. When the Tribunal – or Temple, in case you didn't understand before. You outlanders usually have to be told over and over – declared Sheogorath, Malacath, Mehrunes Dagon, and Molag Bal the evil Daedra, Sheogorath revolted by sending the Oblivion moon Baar Dau down onto Vivec's newly built city, the one we're traveling to, to be exact. Vivec stopped Baar Dau with a single wave of his hand! Baar Dau was so stunned that it vowed to forever be in service to Vivec. It now serves as a prison to those who defy the Temple."

I had to stop because these stories were bothersome and not what I wanted to hear all the way to Vivec. I turned to her, eyes shut and my forefinger and thumb of my left hand squeezing the bridge of my nose in annoyance.

"First Snow," I began.

"Yes, Arbashka?" she chimed.

"Shut up."

"But…"

"Just shut up. I don't care about Vincent."

"Vivec."

"Whatever. I don't care. I just want to go from point A to point B quickly and quietly, so if you would stop talking about these people and just be quiet."

I opened my eyes to see her green ones pouting. Brimmed with tears, she looked to the side with them, trying to hide the little drops of salty water from me. I felt a pit develop in my chest of how I'd spoken to her.

"Look, I-I didn't mean to upset you, First Snow. I'm just… I'm not very religious."

She took her index finger and wiped a straying tear away from the tip of her left eye. She sniffled and looked back at me. "You're not?"

"No. I don't believe in anything. To me, it defies everything known to man."

Before being locked in Cyrodiil for a petty crime and exposed to literature, I never knew the people of the world worshipped gods. I had no religion. When the guard who educated me first taught me words, some of my first books were about the Divines. I had no knowledge of what they meant. I just knew they were, well, gods. The first book I read was _For My Gods and Emperor_. I had no knowledge of anything else. I didn't know about science and all of that logic. When finally exposed to books written on the study of animals, how things evolved and adapted, how the universe worked, and so on, it became apparent to me that the existence of an outer realm being constructed to house powerful deities was completely irrational. It made absolutely no sense. Sure, we were in the realm of Oblivion, and supposedly, the Daedra who govern Oblivion have their own "worlds," but wouldn't those be just other planets, not separate places in time? Wouldn't the Sovengarde that Nords of Skyrim believe awaits the heroes and nobles after death just be some sort of utility to strive people to push forward? And wouldn't the Divines Akatosh, Arkey, Dibella, and so on, even the Daedra, be "imaginary friends" or nonexistent beings for people to talk to when alone or troubled? Powerful beings such as those could not exist in harmony because nothing is perfect. They would constantly quarrel and bicker about how to govern the world!

And it is absolutely impossible for a being to be mortal then become immortal. It makes no sense whatsoever. First of all, Arkey is the supposed god of death. If he existed, he would not allow a person to gain immortality. Secondly, knowing Arkey is false, there is no way a person could outlive their "expiration date" because the body couldn't function. Your bones would become so brittle and your muscles would become so stretched that you would be a blob just lying in one area, unable to move without being in pain. Not to mention, a person's organs can't function forever. It's just… unreal! Thirdly, if these gods are ancient Chimer, maybe their lifespan, like most mer races, is very long. This can be mistaken for immortality, but everything eventually has to die. That's how life is.

This is my look on things. Whether you agree or not is up to you.

"But you can't just believe in nothing!" she argued. "I mean, what made us? Why are we here?"

"We don't know everything, First Snow," I said gently. "That's why people make religions. They want to explain what they don't know."

She had this fire burning in her eyes; it was the same fire that burned in Jiub's when we fought over this very subject. "Well, you may think this, but I know they are real."

The first thing that popped into my mind was the fact she had specifically stated only a select few of high ranking people could enter Vivec's chambers and speak with the supposed god. For all she knew, Vivec could be dead and the whole "rank" thing a hoax. She was just going by hearsay, and hearsay is the least reliable way to obtain knowledge. But, she wanted to worship these immortal mortals (those two words just… do not go together.), and she had every right to do so.

"Okay, First Snow. I never said you couldn't."

She was brewing with anger because I had dared question her religion. With her arms folded across her chest and scorn on her face, she blew a sigh of annoyance and began away.

"Let's just get to Vivec City."

* * *

><p>It was a very quiet and awkward trip from then onward. We didn't really speak until we caught a glimpse of this large, gray, castle-like structure overlooking the sea. The sun was setting over it, casting its vanilla, orange, and lavender colors in the sky. They reflected beautifully on the water, creating this breath-taking atmosphere. We had left the swamp long ago, and now enormous, pale mushroom grew up from the ground along with other various trees and plants. Some of these trees hung over the sides of the sea, stretching their limbs down towards the waters as if longing to touch the surface and cast ripples cascading across it. As I gazed out across the sea towards the castle, a slight breeze blew and ruffled the waters, creating a long line of ripples that danced with the sun's fading rays. My breath was instantly taken from my chest. Never in my lifetime or to my memory had I seen such a picturesque scene.<p>

"Beautiful, is it not?" I heard First Snow speak from behind me. I noticed for the first time that her voice did not have the husky accent her people carried. She did not speak in a tone that said she was raised by Argonians from the Black Marsh region. Instead, she spoke with a similar voice to that of Dunmer women, holding a proud tone and deep pitch. It was as if a Dunmer was trapped inside an Argonian body when First Snow spoke.

"Yes," I agreed, watching her pad to my side.

"This is Morrowind," she stated, gazing out at the marvelous scene. Nothing else followed this comment; it was as if the statement described it all. "This is Morrowind." So simple and obvious, yet so complex and startling. Morrowind, in nearly every book I read, was described as a harsh, barren land with cruel people, but looking at this and standing next to First Snow made the description fade from mind.

"What's that castle over there?" I asked, pointing towards the structure on the banks of the ocean.

"Oh, that's Ebonheart," she explained. "It's an Imperial City that's home to Duke Lloretheni and his followers."

"Morrowind has a duke?"

"Morrowind has a king. Vvardenfell has a duke, and a damn poor one at that. He's a moon sugar and skooma smuggler who treats all houses except House Redoran like they're stupid."

When First Snow mentioned moon sugar, my mouth watered. I was a skooma addict, and a proud skooma addict at that. The sewers of Cyrodiil Prison were overflowing with goblins who made the illegal liquid. I was first introduced to the drug when one hobbled out and desired to trade his specimen for my meal. I was illiterate then, but I knew a good offering when I saw one. It was rather shocking that the goblin actually wanted to trade with a Khajiit and not fight like a goblin would do, but whatever his whole motive behind this trade was I didn't care. I had found skooma, the life-altering drug, and I became instantly addicted. Soon, I was trading often and eventually every day for a taste of that sweet, sweet drink. However, I had to become dry when leaving because no Imperial ship was going to carry skooma. The craving had suppressed itself deep within my mind throughout the days, but now that I'd landed, it was returning rapidly. In no time at all, I would become a ravaging monster if I did not taste skooma soon. Lloretheni was beginning to sound like a great ally.

"He imports moon sugar and skooma under the radar, you say?" I asked, trying to sound like I was merely curious and not interested.

"Yeah, and slaves, too. Master says nearly two hundred captured Argonians and Khajiits are brought in by House Redoran daily then sold at Molag Mar and Suran. Tel Aruhn stopped selling after my master took over the Telvanni."

"Telvanni?" I questioned. "I read they were the most racist house of them all."

"Your book must be outdated. Master stopped all of that after she took over nearly three hundred years ago. Hlaalu doesn't really dabble in the slave market anymore, either. They focus on the importation and exportation of moon sugar and skooma. Indoril and Redoran, being partners, import slaves continuously. Dres does both, though very little. Only House Telvanni is clean of doing this. They're only flaw is the godless practice of necromancy."

In case you people are unfamiliar with the term necromancy, it is the practice of taking corpses of either humans, elves, or beasts, and either reanimating them and making zombies or dissecting them and creating flesh atronachs or bonewalkers. It is illegal because it defiles the bodies of the dead and disrespects countless families who wish to lay their relatives to rest. Even I, believing in no god whatsoever, think necromancy should remain outlawed because of its putrid acts. It is an evil art and should be practiced by none.

"Necromancy?" I questioned. "Drugs? Slavery? Where is the Empire in all of this?"

"Slavery is legal in Morrowind, Arbashka, but raiding other provinces and enslaving citizens of the Empire to sell and trade is illegal. If the Empire intrudes on any act involving slavery in Morrowind, the Dunmer will just cry that they are violating the peace treaty the Tribunal and Emperor Tiber Septim signed long ago. Skooma was invented by the Dunmer and moon sugar by Khajiits, as you know, so all the Dunmer have to do is import a load of slaves carrying moon sugar on them, or that's how Redoran does it. I have no clue how Hlaalu does it. They're in deep with the Empire, so I suspect they pay them off with the money they earn from selling it. And necromancy is practiced here, only the Dunmer call it 'calling up spirits.' They claim this isn't necromancy, but what else do you call reanimating fallen relative corpses and making them guard your ancestral tombs? All the Telvanni have to do is say they're doing what all Dunmer do for their ancestors burial grounds." She looked over at me and smirked. "As I said, this is Morrowind."

Indeed, she was right. Morrowind was absolutely beautiful on the outside, but underneath, she was ugly and crude. I suppose all provinces have similar flaws, but for every Great House in Morrowind to be corrupt in some way? Reading a suspense novel held no candle to this place.

"Man, this whole place is just one big, beautiful hellhole," I laughed, scratching the back of my head.

"You have no idea," she commented. "And day by day, it's getting worse. The Tribunal have little to no power now that Lloretheni, who proclaimed he was a devout worshipper of Almsivi, has taken over. He even stated he was a former Ordinator of Almalexia, Herself, and followed Her word… It is true that in most speeches, Almalexia stands at his side, but I think this is just another lie for the people of Morrowind to believe. Master thinks that Almalexia is working with him, but she has no faith in the Tribunal like me. She prays to her Daedra and I pray to my God Kings."

"You say your master is the leader of the Telvanni. Are you not a Telvanni?"

A look of shock spread rapidly across First Snow's face. "Gracious, no!" she gasped. "Master is Archmage of the Guild of Mages and Archmagister of Great House Telvanni! I am an associate of this Guild. Never would I be a Telvanni!"

"Just askin'. I didn't mean to offend you, yeesh," I voiced, backing away slowly.

"I'm sorry. People always assume that because Master is the Archmagister that I, her devout and dedicated pupil and close friend, should be one also," she confessed, looking down at her hand with saddened eyes. "I am not, though, because the Telvanni are faithless, relying on magicka and knowledge to show them the answers. Though the Guild of Mages is similar, they are devoted to teaching a person how to use magicka properly instead of selecting a handful of individuals with magical abilities and teaching them what they want them to know. That is what Great House Telvanni does."

"Yet, you say she is Archmage, so what…"

"It is complex," First Snow quickly said, cutting me off mid-sentence. "So let's forget about it." She then gazed out at Ebonheart and sighed. "We're close to Vivec City now. It is just a few miles down the road."

I had removed a piece of bread now and was nibbling on it. A cliff racer caught sight of me eating and swooped down to steal the bread. It caught me off guard when its tail hit my ear. My eyes shot up as I covered my head and saw this beast squawking and flapping around crazily. I swatted with my sharpened claws at the bird-lizard-thing, cursing him loudly while doing so. The whole time First Snow was chuckling.

"Do something!" I managed to gasp. I couldn't withdraw my dagger from its sheath because one hand was repeatedly defending my bread while the other guarded it. "Make the beast go away!"

"It wants your bread!" she laughed.

"Obviously!" I shouted back. She wasn't helping the matter at all. I continued to slash away, missing the cliff racer's body by inches when I felt something tug on my loaf. I quickly glanced over to see First Snow had taken a small piece and was waving it over her head. The cliff racer immediately let me be and fluttered to First Snow's offering. It hovered over her and plucked the piece from her fingertips, scoffing it down.

First Snow reached up and stroked the cliff racer under its beak. "See? It's harmless."

And then, all Oblivion broke loose. As if a scene from some horror novel written by some sick and twisted Dark Elf, a whole swarm of cliff racers spawned from out of the trees and engulfed First Snow and me. I knew that when First Snow fed that "harmless" beast that morsel of bread something bad would follow. People say "Do not feed wild animals" for a reason! I have no clue how many there were – six or seven at least, but that was enough. In an effort to save us from a death of violent pecks, I threw the loaf of bread I carried, grabbed First Snow who was screaming hysterically and flailing her arms around like a mad Argonian woman, and tore out running for cover.

While fleeing, I caught a glimpse of an old cavern door underneath two trees. I pulled First Snow forward and threw the wooden door open. Dust flew everywhere, making both of us cough. Inside, I could see an arrangement of blue crystals glowing brightly while surrounded by mushrooms. I pushed First Snow inside and followed soon after doing so, pulling the door closed behind us. Outside, I heard a cliff racer slapping the door violently. I could even see one's shadow blocking out the fading sun's rays as it pecked at the door to enter. Finally, it gave up and left.

Surrounded by only the fading light seeping through the wooden door's cracks and the blue aura given off by the crystals, we were alone. I gave First Snow this aggressive glance that I hoped would give off the whole fact I was angry.

She meekly and awkwardly smiled. "At least you still have your bread."

"No, First Snow, I do not. I have _some _bread, but not what I was eating. I had to throw it just to make those cliff racers leave. Now, we're trapped inside a cave with two loaves and a glass dagger and it's all because YOU fed a cliff racer."

"I didn't - "

"Shut it! I don't want to hear your excuses. You listen to me for once. I'm going to go to sleep and wait out those cliff racers. Understood? Unless it is a dire emergency, and I mean DIRE, do not, I repeat do NOT wake me up. Okay?"

"Well - "

"Okay," I quickly said before she could argue with some dumb excuse. Lying down on the floor of the cave, facing away from First Snow and scowling bitterly, I closed my eyes tightly, folded my arms, and pretended to fall asleep. I could hear First Snow shuffling around in the pale blue light. After a few minutes of her scuffing around, she began to hum the song she had been singing earlier, and my heart began to melt.

I'd been so rude to her all because she fed that cliff racer a tiny bit of bread. Still, it was a wild animal-bird-thing with wings… She could have killed us. My heart grew cold again as I banged my head gently against the cold stone, pushing all of my regret from my mind.

Finally, I fell into a light sleep, but even as light as it was, I had a terribly frightening nightmare. I was strapped to this ancient, filthy golden and copper wall with rusted-out chains. Bound at my hands and feet, I struggled to free myself by lurching my body forward in an attempt to break them. However, try as I might, I could not free myself.

After the fifth or sixth tug, I noticed that a Khajiit stood before me. It was only a silhouette of one, so I couldn't tell whether it was a male or female, what its color was, or any sort of details whatsoever. However, there was a man standing beside it that I could see perfectly. He wore a golden mask that was enormous in size, taking up his whole head and shoulders. He also wore only a pair of pants, no other thread of clothing. His skin was this chalky gold color and he had long fingernails extending forward when he pointed to me.

When this man did so, I felt the chains tighten and I noticed for the first time there was a collar around my neck. It grew tight also, cutting off all air. My eyes felt as if they were going to pop straight out of their sockets and roll onto the floor. I gagged for air as this man drew nearer and nearer.

"You are not the Incarnate," he growled. "You cannot defeat a god, foolish Khajiit." He then pointed at the shadow of the Khajiit. "So long as I have the Moon, Nerevar will not be born."

I then felt my body begin to violent shake. The silhouette leaped forward and attempted to free me from the chains as my life drained. It was muttering words that were incoherent and inaudible. As it pulled, the shaking grew more and more violent.

Suddenly, I was awake and inside the damp, cold cave. First Snow was in the corner before me shaking my body violently.

"Wake up!" she loudly whispered.

I pushed her away quickly, growling as I climbed to my feet and combed the wads of hair down from my head. "What did I tell you!" I yelled. "I said not to wake me!"

"Arbashka, this is an emergency," she whispered. "Please keep your voice down."

"It better be a damned emergency!" I didn't want to admit that I was glad I'd been disturbed from my nightmare. I had too much pride to do that.

"Arbashka," she began, "I think we're in a Sixth House base."

"You think?" I bellowed aloud, shaking from fear, though I'm sure it appeared to her like anger. "You better be damned sure, or else I'm gonna-"

At that moment, I felt this sharp, startling pain hit my side. It was so agonizing that it knocked my breath from my very lungs and made me fall to my knees. I knelt there on the hard ground, trying to reiterate everything that happened when yet another blow came to my back, knocking me completely to the limestone flooring. I was still unaware of the fact I was being attacked. I was rolled over to face my attacker when it kicked me in the side.

I stared up with wide eyes filled with horror at the thing that stood before me. It was a man, "was" being the keyword here because that monster was no man now. I don't know if he was mutated, mauled by a wolf or bear (if they even exist in Morrowind), or was born deformed; all I knew was he was a monster. With a face that was warped, one side much larger than the other and bulging to the point the flesh from his mouth was being ripped forward to reveal his yellow teeth and red gums, this feature of his face fit the rest of his malformed, oversized body. One leg was swollen to the point it broke through his oversized pants on that side. His shoe had also been torn away and now his foot was huge and swollen. I bet he'd leave one Oblivion of a foot print.

However, the scariest feature of this creature had to be his eyes. They were black and lifeless, like he'd died long ago. Or at least his soul had, anyway. It frightened me because I could see all of this anger and grief in them also, despite being empty, and when he looked at me with those black beads, I could see myself reflecting back.

I recovered from my fright just in time to see him swinging a malformed arm towards me. I grabbed my dagger and pierced his arm. Blood splattered the floor and walls as he slung his arm back in pain, taking me with him as I clutched my dagger. I dangled there until he slammed me against the wall, wiping the breath from my lungs again. Still I hung on and somehow managed to speak.

"For the love of the false gods, do something, First Snow!"

Whether it was my voice or the blood spewing everywhere that brought First Snow out of her trance, I didn't care. All I know is she acted. She chanted a spell that was somehow eerie to me.

"_Fathers and Mothers of Oblivion, materialize a weapon of my choice and allow me to use it to destroy my enemies: Summon Longbow!"_

When she finished this spell, blue light engulfed her hands and formed the shape of a bow. It then faded to reveal just that – a black and red bow that shimmered with a unique enchantment. First Snow drew the drawstring on the bow back as an arrow formed at her fingertips. She released this arrow and sent it flying through the air towards the monster. In a split second, it landed between his malformed eyes, cracking through his skull and piercing his brain's soft tissue.

The monster immediately ceased movement. He gave me a chance to withdraw my dagger and land safely on the ground. I leaped back and watched the colossal thing fall backwards, thumping against the hard stone and eventually stopping. I then looked to First Snow who let the bow drop. It vanished before hitting the limestone ground.

"Great shot," I complimented, for it was the only thing I could think of at the time. She had just saved my life and I was so thankful for this as well. I couldn't say anything except that, though.

"Thanks," she replied, flushing at my compliment. "My father taught me."

This statement made me wonder if my father had taught me my skills at fighting with my dagger. I could throw knives very well also, a skill that many had said was something that took years to master like I have. There were so many questions I had that I knew would probably never have an answer.

"Your father?" I asked, trying to sound like I was listening to her.

"Never mind," she quickly said, changing the subject. "Like I said, we're in a Sixth House." First Snow pointed to the creature. "That's a Lame Corpus, a byproduct of being exposed to the Blight."

"The Blight? What is that?"

"It's a disease created by the devil that lives in Dagoth Ur's crater. He is the Tribunal's sworn enemy. Once vanquished by the Nerevarine, he returned after the Nerevarine perished while defending Lord Vivec from Daedra."

"First Snow, I'm sorry but there has to be a more log - "

She veered her gaze to me rapidly before I could even finish my sentence and I could see this anger and frustration in her eyes. "Dagoth Ur is real, whether you wish to believe in him or not. Master was there when the Nerevarine defeated him. He wears a mask, says Master, which is solid gold and resembles a beetle of some sort. His only clothes are pants and his fingernails, his long, torn, black fingernails, move like snakes."

I swallowed a knot that immediately formed when First Snow mentioned this man. He was the man I had seen in my dream just before the attack. I quickly shook my fear away, though, because it was merely coincidence. That was all. Coincidence…

"Mask of gold? Is he a king of some sort?" I questioned, trying to shake the eerie feeling I had.

"Only to his kin," she explained. "He creates them at the source of his evil—the Heart of Lorkhan. It exists as well, for Lord Nerevarine had to destroy it to kill Dagoth Ur. With the Heart, he creates the Blight and his kin. His kin are horrendous monsters made from ash or people that strayed too far. His most powerful kin are the Ash Vampires. Master claims that when you kill an Ash Vampire, they are reborn at the Heart after so long. Their deaths also weaken Dagoth Ur greatly for a time until they are reborn. But creating beings is just one of his many crimes. He attempted to construct a god."

"Construct a god?" I asked. I read a book once about how the Dwemer had tried to make a god. They had failed for some reason, and when they disappeared from this world, the left it behind. The Empire used this machine at one point to stop an invasion or rebellion of some sort—my memory fails me at this moment in time.

"Akulakhan, he called it, the second Numidium. He was going to conquer Morrowind with this metal god that fed off of the Heart's power. Then, once he conquered Morrowind, he would conquer Tamriel and even invade Akavir to conquer the demons there. However, the Nerevarine destroyed the heart and Akulakhan dwindled into a pile of scrap and was engulfed by the lava below it, so says Master. Now, he is back, and I fear he is reconstructing it… The priests say Lady Almalexia has spoken with him and he demanded the Nerevarine "be released," so maybe he still thinks he is alive and will not attack so long as he believes this." She then looked down the long winding tunnel. "I wish I was powerful enough to destroy this place and weaken Dagoth Ur. Maybe I could avenge this poor soul."

"Poor soul! He tried to kill us!" I yelled loudly.

"But he was a human once," she explained. "He fell victim to Dagoth Ur's blight. His sickness he creates from the Heart completely morphs your body within days. You go mad and forget who you are and crave blood and vengeance, for you are in agonizing pain." She then looked back down the hall. "Dagoth Ur is a vile creature."

I could see down the darkened hall because of my ability to view things in even the darkest of night. There was nothing down there, but I could hear chanting coming from somewhere. Whispers around the corners led to superstitious beliefs flooding my mind; I glanced down at the warped creature and drew in a long, deep breath. Arming myself with only my dagger, I pressed my back to the wall.

First Snow asked in a confused voice, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to deliver a wake up call to the Sixth House," I replied, laughing at myself for the terrible pun. I was never any good at jokes and often times failed at making one, but in my opinion, that one was pretty darn good.

I glanced over at First Snow to see her face filling with excitement. She squealed loudly like a rabbit caught in a trap before stumbling over her own scaly tail to my side. She was practically jumping up and down when she pressed her own back against the wall, slightly hunched over so she could see over me.

"I've always wanted to be like an Ordinator!" she confessed in a loud whisper (contridicting words, I know).

"Well, I don't know about that stuff, but I am going to get rid of some of these monsters plaguing Vvardenfell Island," I stated without looking towards her.

My ears were pricked and zoning out whatever she said. I could hear the whispers and moans of creatures throughout the place. The sounds sent these cold chills down my back and spine. Whatever awaited us behind that corner would be frightening and terrifying. I could tell from just viewing the corpus stalker. We had to do this, though. I felt deep down that this was the right the to do, so with a optimisctic view of this situation, I took a huge breath and edged forward to find what was lurking around the corner.


	5. Set Up and Forced into Labor

We edged forth while exercising caution because I didn't want to run into one of those big Lame Corpus people again. With each step, my heart seemed to skip a beat. It also seemed that with each movement, First Snow grew more and more eager. It was as if she wanted to run into some sort of monster and tangle with a creature twice her size and strength. I hoped that this monster she had just defeated was the only one and the whispers and moans I were hearing were my imagination.

However, as we grew nearer and nearer to the turn, the moans grew louder and the incoherent whispers became more coherent. Soon, we were at the edge of the wall with no where else to go except around the corner. I slowly turned my head left towards where the path veered and peeked out when I felt something jab my shoulder.

I jerked back and moved into attack position only to see First Snow was grinning awkwardly. "Sorry," she whispered. "I was trying to see over you."

"Well don't try to see over me!" I instructed, and First Snow nodded.

Returning to my former task and finding it much easier because I was angry now, I craned my neck out and saw two completely nude Dunmer males scurrying about and kneeling at a black and red alter that glowed dimly. In the middle of the alter was a statue that was shaped like a bottle, but contained a head. It's eyes glimmered with the same red the alter produced. I figured the whispering was the result of the two Dunmer, but as for the moaning, I had no clue where it was coming from.

Pulling my neck back in, I reported the news to First Snow. "There are two Dark Elves over there beside an alter," I described. "Both men and both stark naked." When I said this, I realized how wrong and crude it sounded, but thought it best not to mention it to First Snow.

"We can take them," she insisted.

Well, for one, I'd never mentioned let alone thought we could _not_ take these wimps considering they had no armor or weapons that I could see. Secondly, she was a pilgrim, for goodness sake! Pilgrims are supposed to encourage people like me to _not_ kill things instead of destroying every villain I see. She was doing the exact opposite, which quite frankly freaked me out a bit. I was even considering First Snow to be an adorable psycho killer who prayed to cannibalistic gods or something.

What did I care, though? I was ready for a good, fair fight, and these guys were just my type - racist bastards with a passion for destroying mankind. Did I want to rip their heads off? Oblivion yes!

So, exchaning glances at one another one final time, we both nodded a single nod before moving in for the attack. Together like some awesome infiltration team, we sprang from our hiding spot. In my hand I held a glass dagger and in her hand she held the power to conjure forth any weapon and possibly a partner to help us fight. We ran forward, taking the Dunmer by surprise.

I took the bigger one of the two, slashing away at his bare chest in hopes of striking the heart while First Snow, summoning her bow, began firing arrows at the lesser one. Both Dunmer were too shocked by the ambush to do much, and soon they were lying on the cavern floor bleeding out and dying if not already dead.

First Snow let her bow disappear and I sheathed my dagger as we both turned to face the alter. I noticed the whispers had failed to cease, meaning the source was near. First Snow began forward towards the alter and attempted to remove the statue. She gave it a few tugs, but the little, scary piece of ebony did not budge. Finally, after struggling to remove it, she turned to me.

"Help me," she instructed abruptly, breathing heavily from exhaustion.

I walked to the other side and placed my hands at the bottom of the statue while she placed hers at the top where the head was. We both pulled hard, but let me tell you, that statue was not going anywhere. No matter how hard we pulled to remove it, the statue just would not budge.

Finally, after the millionth pull, I straightened up and heaved heavily, "Why... do you... want it so bad?"

She huffed back a reply. "Be...because... it's used... for... worshiping Dagoth Ur... Hear those... whispers? It's his... ash vampires... telling the lower kin... what Dagoth... Ur's... will... is..."

The alter was the source of the whispers? How strange and yet extraordinary. I would have never have thought in a hundred years that a statue was producing the eerie voices. I slighlty tapped it with my foot before bending down to it. I tapped on the head with my knuckles twice then waved my hand in front of the statue's face as if it could see me.

"Hello?" I asked, speaking into the statue. "Are you listening now, Dagoth Ur? Hello?"

First Snow was chuckling at my antics. "He probably can."

"If you are, Mr. Ur," I began with a small smile on face, "please report to the Nerevarine's office at once, if you would, since you are SUCH good friends." I covered my mouth to laugh, First Snow doing the same. We exchanged glances again with bright eyes.

"If you're listening, Mr. Ur," First Snow said, now kneeling down to speak into the statue like I was, "you are... you are..." She paused to think of something, leaving me to swoop in and steal this opportunity to insult Dagoth Ur and make her laugh.

"You're a big headed, golden-faced idiot with the same amount of intelligence of a guar. You're looks probably match a guar's also, don't they? Is that why you wear a mask? To hide your hideous guar face?" I looked up to see First Snow covering her mouth with both hands, her light grey scales shimmering red from where she was laughing. Her emerald eyes were also glimmering with laughter.

"Mr. Guar-Faced Ur, did Lord Nerevar make fun of you when you guys were kids? Is that why you want to destroy the world?" I continued, smirking cleverly the entire time. "Awh, Mr. Ur, do you need therapy? Please, tell me how my taunting makes you feel. Oh, wait, I don't care!" I then laughed as loudly as I could into the statue before raising up.

And then, I noticed that First Snow and I were not alone anymore. In the room were several creatures, each one grey like the Dunmer, only some were missing faces, some wore a mask of some sort to cover their faces, and some had a curved horn growning from where their face should have been. However, I could tell they were angry because of the growling they were emitting. I looked at First Snow who was now pale, her scales a milky white.

I couldn't help but laugh at this situation because it was as if everything was playing out like some story. Here we were making fun of an evil overlord, and then, while we're doing so, his kin overhear us and come to beat the living daylights out of First Snow and me for cracking wise jokes at their leader. I smiled at the crowd like First Snow smiled at me multiple times after doing something she knew made me angry. It was all I could manage.

"Eh... We were... we were just kidding around... I mean..." They were edging forward, static around some of the stronger one's fingertips. I swallowed the bile dwelling inside my throat. I counted at least ten in total. We could possibly handle them.

"First Snow," I whispered, leaning my head back so she could hear me. She semi-leaned forward. "I want you to take out the larger ones with your bow, understood?"

She managed a nod, and I pulled my head back to gaze at the angry mob. It seemed it had doubled within a matter of seconds, or perhaps that was my imagination. I wasn't certain, and I didn't care at this moment.

Slowly, I reached for my dagger that was sheathed at my side, trying not to make any sudden moves. It was working. I could withdraw it before they attacked...

...Could. I could have, but First Snow, being her, decided to summon fire in an unlit cave. **Fire**. You could see it coming becuase it lit the cave when it moved. What kind of idiot move was that? She sent it flying towards a monster, and surprisingly, it hit him and knocked him to the ground. The rest of the group descended upon us like the cliff racers had earlier. Lightning flared everywhere, hitting mulitiple people that were on the mutated Dunmer's sides. First Snow was shooting fireballs from both hands, even though I had specifically said she use her bow (why must she defy me?). It was chaos! I mean chaos. You better be thankful you weren't there with us.

In the midst of it all, I managed to withdraw my dagger and began slicing away, spilling the blood of more than my share of monsters, but they just kept coming towards us. It felt as if there was no end! When will these monsters stop attacking!

My question was answered when a thundering bark surpassed the yells of the monsters, First Snow, and me. It echoed off walls and seemed to shake the room. Then, an enormous explosion of fire blew back the crowd and nearly scorched my face off. I saw a woman's figure outlined in the smoke, her hair blowing wildly. At her side was the outline of a dog. As the smoke cleared, more details became visible. The dog was not a dog; it was a large white wolf with sapphire eyes. The woman was a woman, a Breton to be exact. She had long brunette hair and, from what I could see, jade eyes tinted slightly by a burgendy. She wore this Daedric outfit, only with a very feminine touch. The top came up to the end of her breast bone, exposing her naval to the world. Her arms were completely covered by her pauldrons and gauntlet. Her legs were covered up by thigh-high boot. She wore very short greaves; they were a skirt that had slits in it. A necklace hung around her neck that held a wolf-shaped ring. On the left side of her head were two soulgems, a tear-shaped light blue one and a milky grey, cresent-shape one.

To me, she was absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't stop staring. My eyes followed her every movements. I watched her pull forth a Daedric dai-katana from its sheath at her side. A two-handed blade was the Daedric dai-katana, but she was weilding it one-handed, amazingly enough. Without a shield, she marched forward and raised her two-handed weapon above her hand. It crashed down onto one of the straggling survivors of the explosion, slicing right through their spine and the rest of the body. The wolf leaped on another and sank its teeth into the back of another's neck. It shook it like a rag doll, snapping tendons and bones as if shredding paper. I watched the two do what First Snow and I could not and felt weak.

Once done, the woman walked over to the wolf and gently scratched it behind its ear, cooing it with whispers. She then looked over to us, resting her mighty blade on her shoulder while still gripping it. Her eyes, now a gently jade color, scanned over First Snow and me before she spoke.

"First Snow, what is going on?"

I veered my gaze to First Snow who was looking down at her feet in shame. She did not meet this woman's gaze when she meekly spoke to her.

"This was my fault," she confessed in a sheepish voice. "We were traveling to Vivec City and a cliff racer tried to steal my friend's bread. I thought that if I fed him some, he'd go away."

"But he didn't," the woman interrupted, a look of neither shock nor anger but disappointment and exhaustion. "First Snow, how many times have I told you that those animals are possibly blighted. You can't be feeding animals without knowing for sure."

First Snow was glancing up now with a desperate look in eyes and on her face. She immediately followed behind this woman's last words with her own explanation to justify her actions. "But, Master, I swore it was alone! After feeding it, a whole flock of cliff racers stormed us! We had no choice but to flee in here where a Lame Corpus attacked Arbashka and we decided to flush the rest of them out but when I tried the spell you've been teaching me, it backfired and didn't go right and-"

"You were going to use a spell that you are unfamiliar with?" the woman shouted, her sword no longer resting on her shoulder but waving around like a baton of some sort. I took a few large gaping steps away from the scene so I wouldn't lose a limb or my whole head. The wolf that had been at her side whimpered and went straying a few feet away also.

"Well, you use it just fine!" First Snow ignorantly argued. I knew the woman's next words that would flow from her mouth.

"Because I," she pointed with her free hand to her chest, "have had YEARS of practice." Exactly what I knew she would say. Her next words were a little startling and a complete turn off for me. "I'm three hundred years old!"

I most definately had to comment on this statement at this point.

"You're three hundred years old? What are you? A Telvanni wizard?"

Both First Snow and I were giving me a confused look. First Snow replied, "Umm... she's the Archmagister of House Telvanni. Arbashka, this is my Master I've been telling you about."

My ears flattened to the top of my head as I watched the Archmagister brush back a loose strand of hair that was hanging over her left shoulder. She then placed her hand on her hip she was resting on in a flirtacious way.

"I am Avalia Helshire, Archmagister of Great House Telvanni, Archmage of the Guild of Mages, Head Priestess of the Dissident Priests, and former companion of Duke Andrew Relich, the Nerevarine," the woman stated proudly, allowing her sword to rest once more on her shoulder.

"With a title like that, you're bound to be both good at Arcane arts and respected," I complimented, still dazzled by how she was three hundred years old and so damn sexy.

Avalia chuckled slightly, finally sheathing her sword. "There's plenty of time to discuss all of that. Won't you come with us to Vivec?"

I saw no harm in venturing to Vivec City with these two. It'd be nice to be around two extremely beautiful women (even if one was three hundred years old and the other was a religious klutz that was attracted to bad luck). Maybe I was attracted to women of an older age and damsels in distress. Who knows? I just wanted to chill with some attractive women, and that's exactly what I did.

Avalia and her wolf named Rei who also happened to be nearly three hundred years old escorted us out of the cave and to Vivec City, one of the largest cities I have ever laid eyes on in my whole life. I don't think Cyrodiil City could compare to Vivec City's size and atmosphere. The whole city was built out of the same material used to make ancient burial tombs, says Avalia.

"It was built to honor the God-King Vivec for his 'heroic' actions," Avalia explained, stressing the quotations around heroic with her fingers. I was beginning to really like her because she, too, was interested in science and even hated the Tribunal (for reasons she would not specify). Plus, though she worshiped Daedra, she didn't constantly talk about them the entire time. Instead, she filled my head with facts and history about Morrowind.

"Vivec insisted that this city was not just his city, but everyone's city. See that large rock floating above the city?" Avalia pointed to a large rock with hanging bridges wrapped around it. I nodded. "That was once a moon in the plane of Oblivion. When the Tribunal declared Sheogorath was an evil Daedra and his followers must be executed, Sheogorath was enraged. He rebelled by sending that moon crashing towards Vivec's City. However, says the legend, Vivec made the moon stop with a sing wave of his hand. The moon was then made into a prison to place only the worst criminals in for punishment. They claim that the Ministry of Truth is the safest prision in all of Tamriel, but so does Cyrodiil City's prision." She then leaned forward and whispered, "Just between you and me, the Nerevarine actually broke into the prision to rescue a Dissident Priest who would lead him to his journey."

"He did not," First Snow rudely interrupted. "There are no records of such! Don't tell Arbashka such lies!"

"But he did," Avalia insisted. "Her name was Mehra Milo, and she was a spy because back when the Nerevarine was not the Nerevarine yet, Dissident Priests were executed for being a Dissident Priest. They needed to keep tabs on the Temple and see what their next move was. However, she was discovered and locked away. Andrew rescued her, and Milo pointed him to the Seven Trials he had to fufill."

First Snow seemed a bit baffled and hurt. I'm sure she had truly believed that the Ministry of Truth was, indeed, the strongest and most secure prision in all of Tamriel because her god Vivec was its master, but sometimes, people are let down by their idols, especially if they are religious figures. I slightly smiled and patted her on the shoulder to comfort her, but she jerked away.

"Anyway, Vivec is as old as me. An era or so older, in fact. I don't know of a living soul who would know how it came to be."

"Not even Divayth Fyr?" First Snow questioned, cutting in between Avalia and me and staring directly at her. It made me sort of angry that she'd be so rude as to interrupt Avalia's story, let alone, push me aside like I meant nothing to this conversation.

Avalia seemed a little shocked that First Snow had done this. Even Rei, whom I had totally forgotten was there because I had been so entranced by the history and Avalia's good looks, made a whine and cocked her head in confusion, pushing her ears forward. Avalia blinked a few times before shaking her head and realizing First Snow had asked a question and was awaiting an answer. "N-no," she stammered. "Divayth was not alive when Vivec City was built, though he is one of the oldest in the Telvanni council aside from Mistress Thenora."

"How is Mistress Thenora?" she asked Avalia. Avalia was now really taken back. She and Rei exchanged glances at one another. Her green eyes and Rei's azure ones both held confusion. It seemed to me that the wolf shrugged it shoulders a bit before returning her gaze to First Snow, Avalia doing the same.

"First Snow, you've never been interested in House Telvanni. You don't even like House Telvanni, or Mistress Thenora, for that matter. Last time I took you there you called her a crazy old hag way past her prime."

I put a hand over my mouth and stifled a bit of laughter, looking down at the ground as if not interest and hiding my grinning expression. I was watching from the corner of my eye as First Snow's scales turned a bright pink from embarrassment.

"I-I-I-" She was searching her brain for a good answer to justify her reason for being so enthralled with House Telvanni. She had admitted to me that she didn't even like them because they weren't religious. Avalia was smiling now, wide and big. She patted First Snow on the head between her horns.

"Come. Let's get to the Guild of Mages atop the Foreign Quarter canton."

From what Avalia had explained, Vivec City was not exactly on land. The people who had built it made it to slightly be on land, or have bridges crossing over from canton to canton, and the majority of it in the water. There were eight cantons in all - Foreign Quarter, House Redoran, House Hlaalu, House Telvanni, St. Olms' Living Quarter, St. Delyn's Living Quarter, Arena, and Temple. The Temple is centered at the end of the long line of cantons with St. Delyn and St. Olms connecting it to the line of cantons dotting the sea just off the shore. In fact, there were a whole bunch of bridges connecting each canton to one another.

At the end of the Temple canton was a large staircase ascending forth into the heavens. There were waterfalls surrounded the canton, pouring out crystal-clear water only to be recycled and poured over and over again. At the top of this massive staircase was a small building with a door that was locked. Two golden shrines were on either side of this door. Avalia claimed that this door lead to the God-King Vivec and his chamber. She claimed to have seen him before when he summoned Duke Andrew Relich to claim the sacred tool Wraithguard. She described as being part-Dunmer and part-Chimer literally, for one side of his body was the dark grey Dunmer were colored and the other was a golden color, the color of the Chimer. His eyes were golden, however, and not one being red like the Dunmer's eyes.

I saw pictures of him when we entered the Foreign Quarter. Murals were plasted all over large walls in the cantons of a man that favored a Dunmer wearing robes. Behind him were people; quite obviously they were following him. Though this drawing was completely black and painted onto a yellowish piece of stone or whatever, I could clearly see they were smiling.

After we went up the stairs to reach the Upper Foreign Quarter, we had to exit the canton once more to reach the final floor. Inside this final floor, there were several small buildings compacted into one large building. I had seen several men and women pacing throughout the place wearing golden armor and a mask that favored Vivec from what I'd seen from the mural. They, as Avalia had explained, were Ordinators. They were sent by Almalexia to help Vivec and his Buoyent Armigers fight the evil lurking inside the Ghostgate.

In case you guys are as lost as I was on the whole "Ghostgate" term, it's a fence, and a damn large one at that. Its magical wall was constructed three hundred years or so back from several soulgems by the Tribunal to maintain a balance on the Blight. After the Nerevarine vanquished Dagoth Ur, the Ghostgate and its ethereal barrier was taken down for only a short period of time. Two hundred years later, after the Nerevarine's death, Dagoth Ur returned and threatened the land once more; thus the wall was reactivated. The pillars and entrance is made out of the same material that the cantons are constructed with and has only one entrance. A gate that stands between two towers - the Tower of Dawn and the Tower of Dusk - that can only be taken down by pressing a button. Even then, there are two seperate doors, so one button must be pressed followed by the second in that order. Otherwise, you would be trapped inside the gate entrance. The fence encompases the entire Red Mountain region.

We entered the Guild of Mage's little store in the Foreign Quarter's store. A Breton and Dunmer were there busying themselves with work. When they saw Avalia standing in the doorway with First Snow, Rei, and me, they smiled and waved at her.

"Well, I must say I find myself in pleasant company!" the Breton complimented. "Please, Arch-Mage, share your thoughts!"

Avalia gently waved her hand and shook her head. "Not today," she insisted. "I have an important task."

"Well, don't let us bother you," the Dunmer stated.

"I wasn't going to," Avalia replied and motioned for us to follow. Rei didn't hesitate like First Snow and I did. She scurried while hassling to her master's side who was disappearing down a flight of stairs that curved to the right. First Snow shrugged and followed behind, I filing in last. When the two thought I was out of ear shot, I could the Dunmer scoffing behind us with an insult.

"Telvanni scum."

"Agreed," growled the Breton. "Necromancers. The lot of them."

My ears pushed outward as I cocked my head slightly in confusion, stopping in my tracks for a brief moment to ponder on what had just been said. Was Avalia aware that those two mages did not like her? I assumed all mages in the Guild of Mages loathed her and the Telvanni since even First Snow, Avalia's pupil, despied the Telvanni with a passion. I pressed forward, slightly jogging to Avalia's side.

"You do realize those two back there-" I began when she interrupted me.

"Oh, yes, they're kiss asses," she explained. "All the mages are. They hate the Telvanni because we put a regulation on who can learn magicka and who cannot. Three hundred years back, a fool could be let into the Mages Guild and given one of the most powerful spells to work with. In fact, the Arch-Mage before me was as big of a scuttle-brain as a Redoran! He was so unqualified for the job that he let a Telvanni spy handle the Mages Guild secrets! He also died a scuttle-head when I challenged him to duel me. The Telvanni was expelled from both the Mages Guild AND House Telvanni after I took over. I kicked him out of the Telvanni for making it so obvious he was a spy!" She chuckled to herself. "He misspelled Ocato and the letter sounded as if a two-year-old had written it."

"So... you kicked him out?"

"Of course! If the man could not create a convincing letter, he obviously couldn't cast an effective spell sufficiently."

I raised an eyebrow. "Yet he had this Arch-Mage fooled."

Avalia turned to me with a very grave face. "That scuttle-head told one of the guild members here to chain a team of dreugh to the Foreign Quarter canton and tow it to a 'more reasonable climate.'"

And that's when I understood why Avalia had killed him instead of sparing his life. Quite obviously the former Arch-Mage was a complete idiot and had absolutely no brains whatsoever. Whoever chose him to lead must have ran out of all other options or was just as big of an idiot as him.

We came to a room where there were two seperate bedrooms open to the public on either side. In this room was where we stopped. Avalia turned and stated, "Wait here. I'm going to go change."

She then began over to one of the rooms, which, I must tell you, had absolutely NO walls. They were just open rooms with beds and dressers. She then proceeds to pull off all of her clothing. I, being a gentleman, turn around, facing the other direction, sweat trickling down my neck as let forth a nervous laugh.

First Snow giggles slightly, though I'm not for sure if it was at me or the situation Avalia presented me. However, I remember wanting to strangle her for the laugh. I waited patiently for Avalia to say she'd finished, too frightened to turn around. I honestly didn't know how she'd react to me peeping over my shoulder. After seeing her weild that sword one handed, I didn't want to find out.

"You can turn around, Arbashka," she instructed, and I obeyed. I turned around, my eyes to the floor. I glanced up to see her dressed up in a long, elegant yellow and pink robe, golden, intricate designs all over it. Rei was at her side, a beautiful diamond necklace around the wolf's neck.

Avalia bowed her head gently, clasping her hands together in her lap. I noticed First Snow bowing her own head, so I just followed, not wanting to be the only one left out. When we finished bowing our heads, she began away, Rei following close behind. First Snow took me by the wrist and pulled me up the flight of stairs.

At the top, there was a small room with a circle on the floor and a tapestry draped over the wall. A Nord sood there in her robe reading a book. When she saw Avalia, she waved. However, we weren't going to see her; Avalia turned left and led First Snow and I into the dining room.

There were two tables set up with a full course meal on either one. My mouth began to drool. I was famished, and the only thing I'd eaten since I arrived from Cyrodiil was a small morsel of bread. Here, there was all sorts of food. Most was exotic, but I wasn't picky. I knew she led us here for a reason.

"We prepared a meal for you while you were gone," Avalia stated. "Well, for First Snow, anyway."

"First Snow can't eat all of this," I pointed out and dove towards a bowl full of steaming meat.

I basically helped myself, sampling one of everything. Avalia told me the names of each food item as I grabbed them. There was rat meat, which wasn't bad, but it wasn't too good either. Also, nix hound meat was present, too, and it was probably my favorite, aside from the crab meat. Saltrice, bittergreen petals, and whickwheat was mixed together to form a salad of some sort with a sauce made from Flinn and honey, which they imported from Skyrim. Baked ash yams were also delicious, and I even got to eat one of my personal favorite items - a sweet roll.

First Snow, who happened to be a vegetarian, simply had the saltrice, bittergreen, and whickwheat salad. She and Avalia chatted it up while Rei and I became acquainted. I would occasionally slip her a small morsel of meat, and she would lap it up and then gratefully beg for more. I swear, she gained five pounds after I was done feeding her, and when I was done eating, my stomach was one size too big for my pants.

I sat in my chair, slumped back and on the verge of dozing off into a dreamworld when I heard the sound of metal tapping glass. I stirred with a jump, Rei grunting as she jumped also, licking her muzzle. I looked over in the direction of where the noise came from to see Avalia standing up. First Snow was a few seats down.

"Now that you've gotten your belly full," she began, "I would like to discuss business?"

"Business?" I drozily yawned, scratching my chest with my unsheated claws. "What business?"

"The business I'm about to discuss," she retorted, and I fell silent.

"This mission was originally for First Snow, but now that you've arrived, Arbashka, I'm opening it up to you. There's been talk about a new Nerevarine around the Ashlander tribes."

First Snow gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "You cannot be serious, Master?"

Avalia closed her eyes. "Yes, as hard as it is for me to accept, I knew that this day would come. With the Blight worse than it has ever been and the God-Kings no where to be found, it would seem that it is time for Azura to name a new one. Since I am the former leader of the Dissident Priests, I have been contacted by their new leader asking me to send someone to investigate."

"Investigate where?" I asked, leaning forward in my chair. "If I'm not mistaken, this Nerevarine guy could be anyone, and I'm not too thrilled about going around, hopping from town to town, all over Morrowind."

"You won't have to," Avalia stated. "The Urshilaku Tribe to the North should know about it. They were willing to help Andrew when he was becoming the Nerevarine, so they should help you two."

"No."

First Snow and Avalia looked up at me with questioning eyes. "No?" Avalia asked, confused and baffled at my sudden answer.

"Before I left that rat-hole of a prison, I read up about Morrowind. These "Ashlanders" are uncivilized ignorant Dark Elves that keep people like us as slaves! If you think for one minute I'm gonna-"

"I'm willing to pay you," Avalia interrupted me and caught me off guard. I watched her walk over to one of the tapestries that hung on the wall behind her. She lifted it to reveal a secret compartment. She then opened the door to that compartment and revealed to me a mountain of golden septims My mouth dropped completely open. I'd never seen so much money in my entire life.

"Two hundred thousand drakes," Avalia explained, dipping her hand into the safe and withdrawing a handful of them. "A small fortune, but nonetheless a fortune. I will offer you ten thousand up front before you leave, then when you return from your trip, you will be given the rest."

My mouth watered excessively. I began to think of all the things I could buy with that money. I could set myself up a home, in Elsweyr, and pay people to discover who I really am. I would be somebody and not a low-life nobody. All the skooma and women in the world would be at my disposal.

However, there was no guarentee that I would come back to receive this fortune. Those Ashlanders could enslave me and make me work in their fields - if Ashlanders had fields - for the rest of my life. It was risky, very risky. Oblivion, I may not even be able to make it there and back! I could die in battle!

"I-I dunno," I said, weighing the costs. "Can I... Can I sleep on it?"

"Of course." She withdrew a few coins and placed them in a small bag. She then proceeded to throw them in my direction. I caught them while they were still flying through the air. "There's you five thousand on me, Arbashka. You can spend it on whatever you want."

I smiled, climbing to my feet as I tossed the bag into the air. "Thanks."

I then proceeded to exit the room, hearing First Snow whisper behind me to Avalia, "What if he takes the money and leaves?"

"He'll be back," Avalia half-whispered, half-stated. "Trust me, First Snow. He will be back."

I don't know what made Avalia so sure I'd return. I mean, I now had five thousand septims to my name! I use 'em to buy anything I wanted. I mean, anything! And the first thing I was going to buy was a bottle of skooma.

As soon as I exitted the Guild of Mages, I immediately scanned the busy crowd for faces of skooma addicts. Unfortunately, everyone seemed normal, which meant they had to be in the sewers. I asked one of the Ordinators how to get to the sewers. I couldn't tell if he gave me a funny look or not because of his big, ugly golden mask, but he sort of stuttered in his voice and gave me directions. Afterwards, I thanked him and went on my way.

The entrance was two floors down, so I exitted this floor and went down the slopes, reaching second floor of the canton. There, I entered and began snooping around. It didn't take me long to find a tavern. I could hear the chanting of some drunken Dark Elves. I slowly opened the door to see one girl and three guys taunting what appeared to be an Argonian male. They were singing a song while they circled him. I noticed the bar tender was trying to get them to quit, but he couldn't seem to make them listen to him.

This looked a job for Arbashka.

I barged in, making the door slam against the wall. The whole group jumped. The Dark Elves that surrounded the Argonian turned to me and began to smile.

"Well, what have we here?" said one of them with a grin.

"Looks like you're a little lost, outlander," said another with a laugh. "This place ain't for your kind."

"Go home where you belong, Khajiit," growled the woman Dunmer. "We don't enjoy your kind around here."

"Maybe he don't understand us?" asked the first, rubbing the hairs that sprouted from his chin. "Khajiit, go back to your 'warm sands.' Leave this place."

"Andrano says leave," the second laughed, and they all joined into a chorus. I merely stood there, grinning from ear to ear with glee.

"Actually," I began, propping myself up on the wall and examining my claws, "I don't hail from Elsweyr. I wasn't even raised there, for that matter. I was taught to speak in Cyrodiil, my native home."

The whole place went quiet for a moment as they stared at me in disbelief. I'm sure they were surprised I had spoken so non-Khajiit like. Either that, or they'd never heard of a Khajiit being from Cyrodiil. After all, Dark Elves are savages consumed with their own gods and beliefs, too ignorant to accept the fact that their gods are false.

"What is this wizardry?" one asked. "He speaks perfectly."

"Yes," said the woman, "it would seem this one is rather clever." I watched her bend down as if she was tying her shoe to discretely withdraw a hidden dagger she kept there. I also heard the sound of metal scraping against more metal; I twitched my eyes in the direction of one of the male Dark Elves.

They were going to ambush me. I knew this could get violent. I looked over at the Argonian. He was rather buff, suited up in some light armor, so I figured him to be well-trained. I pretended to yawn and stretch my arms above my head. There was a tapestry up above me, and if I could reach up and jerk it down, I could throw it on one of them to distract them for a moment.

I outstretched my fingers, moving them to seem I was attempting to bring the feeling back, but they alone weren't long enough. I unsheathed my claws, exposing the natural black knives and grappled the old rug. I may not be able to throw it, but I can rip it down.

With that, I yanked the red tapestry off the wall, making the group jump back. While my body had vanished behind it, I unsheathed my own glass dagger. The closest Dark Elf threw the rug to the side, lunging to strike me. My blade met him before he could reach me with his own; I struck his stomach and slit it open, spilling his guts onto the floor.

Pulling away, I noticed that the Argonian had withdrew a shortsword of some sort and was battling the female Dark Elf. All I had to do was take out the last one. He and I met half-way, our daggers meeting and clanking loudly. We stared into each other's eyes, my green ones burning into his russet ones. I pushed away and attempted to swing at his head.

He held up his dagger to block it, and I knocked it out of his hands. He didn't have time to watch it go skidding away. I was swinging at him with all my might. Over and over, I slashed at him and each time he would duck and dodge. Finally, he put his head down and charged at me.

His shoulder rammed into my gut and knocked the breath out of me. The Dark Elf pushed me up against the wall, knocking bottles of matzel and flinn down and spilling onto us and the floor. I couldn't feel the liquid, though. Pain surged through me from where I had collided with the wall.

I recovered before he could throw a punch my way. I moved my head to the side, making his fist hit the wall. The bones broke from the force of hitting sheer rock; I could hear it happen because of how close he came to hitting me. The Dark Elf screamed in pain, pulling his fist away and cradling it with his other hand. I watched it turn darker than before and winced at the pain I imagined him going through.

After he stared at it, he looked up at me with these animal-like crimson eyes. He let forth this wild scream and ran towards me. That was when an Ordinator moved in front of me, blocking his path. The authority had finally arrived, it seemed. There was two of them, and even with that ridiculous mask hiding their face, I knew they were snarling. One withdrew an ebony mace, threatening to beat the remaining Dark Elf into submission if he tried anything against them.

"You are under arrest," an Ordinator stated in his dry, raspy voice. He sounded as if he needed a drink. "No one causes any harm in my city. The fine is one thousand gold. Either you pay now, or you spend time in jail. Your choice."

The Dark Elf growled, clutching his hand. "It was that damned Khajiit's fault. He caused this!"

"The Oblivion I did!" I shouted back, walking around the Ordinator to face him. "I walked in to get a drink and they were tormenting that Argonian!"

"I beg to differ," said the Argonian in his husky accent. He and the Dark Elf bartender stood together. The Argonian was bloodied and beaten, but his sword was bloodier, meaning he'd kill the wench that had mocked him.

"Right, Huleeya was just drinking when these bastards came up and began harrassing him."

The Ordinator grunted, looking over at the other. I have no idea how they communicated with just looks with that damned mask on, but apparently they agreed silently on what to do.

"Because of your crimes, we're locking you up," the Ordinator finally said. "Come with us."

I watched the Dark Elf and the Ordinators exit the door while a few nosy onlookers parted to let them by. With a sigh, I looked over at Huleeya and couldn't help but laugh. This would be one Oblivion of a tale, that's for certain.

"Bartender," I stated, walking towards the bar. I plopped down into a stool near the far corner, my back facing the door. I shrugged my shoulders foward as he walked over to the bar.

"Got any..." I paused to glance and make sure the Ordinators had gone completely. When I saw that the whole crowd had departed and all that was there was Huleeya, I continued. "... skooma?"

The bartender chuckled as he reached under his bar and withdrew a red bottle marked with a skull and crossbones. My mouth instantly began to water like crazy as one of my eyes twitched uncontrollably. Skooma. The highly addicting liquid that you became instantly hooked on when you first put the glass or bottle it's stored in to your lips. My palms became sweaty as I shook all over. I wanted that feeling. I wanted to drink in that sweet, sweet nectar like a bumblebee.

I watched the bartender reach for a glass, but I sprang from my seat and grasped his hand, stopping him. He gave me this frightened look a cornered anial gives. I loosened my grip and took the bottle with the same hand, settling back down.

I stared at it for a moment, anticipating taking that first sip. It had been forever since I'd tasted that sweet liquid. I was shivering with delight. If I had been a dog, my tail would have wagged repeatedly until it flew off my behind. Slowly, I put it to my thin, black-outlined lips; I took my first sip, slowly however, careful not to spill a single drop.

The liquid hit my tongue, sending this jolt of pleasure through my body. I began drinking it, and as it passed down my throat and collided with my stomach, I began to feel warm. My whole body tingled with delight and pleasure. I didn't realize I had drank it all until it I found myself sucking on the bottle as if a hungry child.

I set the bottle down and demanded for another one. The bartended refused to show me the me skooma unless I had the money, so I remember throwing down the entire bag of coins. The skooma cost five hundred septims a bottle, so I got nine bottles.

With each bottle I downed, the more intoxicated I became. I don't remember much after the fifth bottle, only there were some Dark Elves that came in. After that, I basically blacked the whole thing out (after all, I consumed all nine, plus my first, making ten whole bottles of skooma).

When I came to, I found myself inside a prison cell in pain. I first thought that the entire trip to Morrowind had been merely a dream, and I was back in my cell. It had felt so real, though. I then noticed that my cell back in Cyrodiil had been darker than this one. Plus, it was constructed out of a dull brick and coated with hay. This one was made from some brown clay or brick and had only a matt and a plate.

I looked up and saw an Ordinator coming my way and knew exactly what happened. Apparently those Dark Elves that had come in shortly after I downed five bottles of skooma wanted revenge for the two that died and the one I sent to prison. That would explain why I was so sore.

He stopped at my cell door, taking set of keys he had in his hands and unlocking it. He pulled the door open, standing aside as someone came forward.

It was Avalia. She stood in the doorway, blocking out what little light that seeped in. I couldn't see her face, but I imagined she was smiling. First Snow then made her appearance, walking slowly towards Avalia's side. She looked up at me. I couldn't see her face, either, but from reading her movements, I knew she was disappointed.

Seeing First Snow disappointed made my heart writher in pain. Why was I feeling so guilty? I tried pushing the feeling aside, but the more I stared at her, the worse my heart felt. I finally had to just focus on Avalia.

"This him?" asked the Ordinator.

"Yes, this is him," Avalia said with a sigh. "That's my troublemaker."

_Her_ troublemaker? What in the name of Oblivion was going on here? I didn't belong to her! Avalia didn't even believe in slavery! The Ordinator began lecturing her on how she should control me better, but she wasn't listening and neither was I basically. I was just focused on what Avalia had said.

"Alright," began the Ordinator, "come on out here, scum."

I didn't want to move. I wanted to defy that stupid Dark Elf's demands, but I realized that if I didn't, he'd come in that cell where I was and drag me out - dead or alive. So, wanting to live to see another day, I walked out, a scowl on my face. I glowered over at the Ordinator then at Avalia. She was smiling from one ear to the other.

"Do you want a moment alone to..." the Ordinator trailed off, but I knew what he was applying. My fists were clentched. I wanted to punch him.

"Yes," said Avalia, and so the Ordinator left the room. After she believed he was out of earshot, she began to speak. "Well, as I suspected, you're a skooma eater."

"So what?" I barked. "It doesn't change a damn thing about me."

"No, you're right," she agreed, still smiling. "I've bailed you out, though."

"Yeah, thanks." I turned to leave when she spoke. Her next words left me frozen in my tracks.

"Where do you think you're going? I bailed you out, so now you owe me."

I cringed. Turning my head slighlty, I replied, "I owe you nothing."

"Oh, but you do. You see, your bounty was six thousand drakes, which is quite a bit of gold, wouldn't you say?"

"No. Not for you."

"Well, I wasn't factoring in paying off the guards. You see, you were a wanted man and was sentenced to death. After I 'generously' donated to those fine Ordinators, they decided to not kill you, but hold you on the account you consumed skooma. I had to pay of your bounty to bail you out. I also, on top of this, had to pay for the damage you and the Dunmer caused on the bar, not to mention, the gang's leader you sliced up real well to stop them from killing you. All in all, you're quite a wealthy asset, coming to a grand total of two hundred thosand gold coins."

I was shaking with anger now as I connected the dots. She had never intended to give me that money. In fact, she had probably paid off the Argonian to be there when I showed up, knowing I couldn't resist a fight. I was infuriated. With a yowl of anger, I charged at her only to be frozen where I stood.

Avalia had cast a paralyzation spell on me. Damn her...

She made a clicking sound with her tongue. "Arbashka, you're going to listen to me and listen well. First Snow informed me yesterday that the Dark Brotherhood has a hit out for her. I'm contacting the Morag Tong to find out who paid them to kill her, but I still need someone to accompany her to the Urshilaku Tribe. I knew you wouldn't be willing to do it with just the money at stake. Believe me, I didn't want to do this." Her voice sounded sincere, but I didn't believe her, the witch. "Now that I basically... _own_ you," she forced the words out, "you have to go with First Snow. Arbashka, I will still pay you and provide you with the armor you need to survive. Do you understand?"

The paralyzation spell wore off and I staggered forward. I glanced over at First Snow to see her clasping her hands together and holding them to her chest, her green eyes begging but still brimming with disappointment. I swallowed the bile that dwelled in the back of my throat.

"Yeah," I said in a growl. "Understood."

"Good," Avalia said. "Come with me to get your armor then."

And so I followed her out of the room, First Snow lagging behind.


End file.
